Philo of Alexandria, Works (Loeb Classical Library in 12 volumes)

PHILO

VOLUME VII

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
F. H. COLSON

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON, ENGLAND

First published 1937
Reprinted 1950, 1958, 1968, 1984, 1998

LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY® is a registered trademark
of the President and Fellows of Harvard College

ISBN 0-674-99353-5

Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd,
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on acid-free paper.
Bound by Hunter & Foulis Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland.

CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION . . . . 6 «© e« « ix

List or Puito’s WorkKS .... .- . e« Xix

ON THE DECALOGUE (DE DECALOGO)
Introduction . . . . . «6 « -« 8
Text and Translation . . .... 6

ON THE SPECIAL LAWS (DE SPECIA-
LIBUS LEGIBUS)

Boox I
Introduction, . . .... . 98
Text and Translation . . . . . 100
Boox II
Introduction . . . . . .- «. . 804
Text and Translation . . . . . 806
Boox III
Introduction . . . . - « e« « 472

Text and Translation . . ὁ ὁ .« 474

CONTENTS

APPENDICES
I. To De Decalogo . . .

II. To De Specialibus Legibus, i. .
III. To De Specialibus Legibus, ii. .
IV. To De Specialibus Legibus, iii.

PREFACE TO VOLUME VII

Tuis seventh volume is in a sense a continuation of
the sixth, in that both belong to the second main
division of Philo’s work, the Exposition of the Laws.
But the contents differ so essentially from the bio-
graphical treatises, contained in the last volume,
that it seemed advisable to add a General Introduc-
tion, which will apply not only to the seventh, but
also to a large part of the matter which has to be
relegated to the eighth.

The only other thing I need say here is that I
wish to acknowledge my debt to the German
translators, particularly to the great Philonic scholar,
I. Heinemann, whose version of three out of these
four treatises and still more the notes appended
to them have given me valuable help. I have not
always felt able to accept his conclusions and differ
from him occasionally as to the meaning of particular
sentences and phrases. But I have generally, if not
always, recorded these cases, so that scholars will
be able to judge between us. His more recent work
Philons griechische und jiidische Bildung* has also

@ Referred to in the notes as Bildung.

PREFACE

proved very useful. I will also note Prof. E. R.
Goodenough’s Jenish Jurisprudence in Egypt, and
if I seem to mention it to express disagreement
more often than agreement, this does not detract
from what I owe to his fresh and illuminating way
of treating the many problems which these treat-
ises suggest.

F. H.C.

CamsripcE, January 1937.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Tue last volume carried us through the introductory
part of the Exposition of the Laws, namely that in
which Philo set before his readers the picture of
Moses and his predecessors as living embodiments of
the laws. In this volume we pass on to the laws them-
selves. Inevitably he begins with the Ten Com-
mandments, which being given directly by God him-
self are to be regarded as the general heads under
which the specific enactments given through Moses
are to be grouped. While he practically accepts our
division of the Ten into duty towards God and duty
towards our neighbour, he does not divide them into
four and six, but, led perhaps by his love of numerical
symmetry, into two sets of five, the place of the Fifth
in the first group being justified by the close analogy
of parenthood to the creative work of God.

The first of the four treatises in this volume, the De
Decalogo, apart from some preliminary considerations
about the theophany on Sinai and a short sketch at
the end of the system to be followed in the subsequent
treatises, deals with the Ten in their literal meaning.
He now passes on to the Special Laws. In all four
books the treatment of each commandment begins
with a dissertation on the commandment itself in its
literal sense, similar to, though fuller than, that in the
De Decalogo, and then proceeds to a discussion of the

ix

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

particular enactments which he thinks may be set
under it. Thusin Book I, which takes the First and
Second Commandments, this preliminary dissertation
is followed by an account of the regulations about the
priests, the sacrifices of various kinds and as appointed
for the various feasts and the moral condition required
of the sacrificers. As all these are concerned with the
right method of worshipping God he considers that
they are bound up in the commandment “ Thou shalt
have none other God but me.”

The second Book covers all laws which can be
assigned to the next three Commandments. Under
the Third come all regulations about oaths and vows ;
under the Fourth a very wide assortment of subjects.
Philo has to some extent already dealt with the other
holydays besides the Sabbath, when he enumerated
the sacrifices offered at each, but he now returns to
them, not so much as we might expect because the
Sabbath is only the chief holyday, but because seven
is a sacred number and the feasts are either for seven
days or for one which is mystically identified with
seven. On the same principle the sabbatical year
and the year of Jubile, though social rather than
religious ordinances, are here included. Under the
Fifth, which is briefly treated, we have apart from the
duties of parents and children to each other little
more than the duty of paying respect to age in
general.

‘Book III carries on with the Sixth and Seventh
Commandments. It discusses many enactments
which deal with sexual irregularities and crimes of
violence. In Book IV regulations dealing with
various forms of dishonesty come under the Eighth
Commandment, and minor regulations as to witnesses
x

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

and just judgement under the Ninth. In dealing
with the Tenth, Philo, taking οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις
to apply to desire in general, reads into it the duty
of controlling the appetites and thus finds an oppor-
tunity for discussing the Pentateuchal food laws.
At this point (iv. 132) 5 he recognizes that there are
various precepts and enactments which cannot
properly be assigned to any of the Ten but are implied
by them all, and in consequence we have here what
seems practically a new scheme. The laws in the
succeeding part of the Exposition are classified accord-
ing to the virtues, justice, courage, humanity, etc.,
which they may severally be said to promote. The
last part of Book IV discusses justice in this sense and
is followed by a treatise or rather a set of minor
treatises bearing the title De Virtuttbus and this again
is supplemented by another (De Praemits), well de-
scribed as an epilogue, on rewards and penalties there
laid down, with another perhaps entirely separate on
blessings and cursings. As all these belong to the
next volume I need not say more about them here.
It seems to me that on the whole Philo reports with
fairness and accuracy the laws which he discusses.
They are only a selection and it is not, I think, possible
to find any principle on which the selection is based.
There is, of course, a great amount of. interpretation
and justification and in this it will be found that he is
influenced by Greek and Roman Law in the same
way that he is influenced by Greek Philosophy in the
Commentary. In the same way but not to the same
extent ; for though he was well read in Demosthenes

4 In fact if it were not for long established tradition the
natural arrangement would be to end Book IV here and
join the rest of the book with the De Virtutibus.

xi

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

and very probably had a fair knowledge of Attic Law
in general, he was not a jurist in the same sense that
he was a philosopher. In his statements of the laws
themselves there are several cases where either the
whole law or some detail in it has no direct scriptural
warrant, but many, if not most, of these are reason-
able deductions from what is to be found in Scripture 5
and indeed he says this himself of some of these
deductions. Sometimes a scriptural law is applied to
contemporary circumstances,° sometimes a non-scrip-
tural detail is derived from contemporary practice or
his own observation,? sometimes perhaps he has mis-
interpreted his text,* and sometimes his memory has
gone astray,’ but these last are quite exceptional.?

In the first section of the De Decalogo Philo
promises that if any allegorical meaning should

% ¢.g. i. 235, ii. 128, 252, iii. 64, 147 f.

> 4.e. with the phrase “‘ Moses forbade from afar” (πόρ-

ρῶθεν). See note on iii. 63. ¢ ij. 82, iii. 72.
4 e.g. much of what he says of the temple, i. 71 ff., 166,
ii. 175. * ili, 86, 140, 150. 71, 72, iii. 82, 205.

9 Here may be mentioned Prof. Goodenough’s thesis elab-
orated in his Jewish Jurisprudence in Egypt. He believes that
“the laws as expounded by Philo are the law of the Jewish
courts in Alexandria” and “that what Philo is doing through-
out is to rephrase the prescriptions of the Terah, reinterpret
them, or even alter them or deny them in a literal sense
altogether, so thatin the end Jewish law resembles now a law of
Rome, now one of Greece, or again one of the few laws we still
have from Alexandria ”’ (pp. 13, 14). He sustains this view
with a wealth of references to, and citations from, a number
of modern as well as ancient authorities, with which I am not
really competent to cope. And, when I say that he does not
seem to me to prove his point, I do not wish to speak
dogmatically. My main criticisms may be put as follows:
First, it does not seem to me that we know enough either of
the limits of jurisdiction allowed to the Jews in Alexandria,
or how they administered what they had, to determine

xii

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

appear to underlie the laws he discusses he will not
fail to state it. The promise is only partially fulfilled.
As a matter of fact allegory is almost entirely absent
from the De Dec.* itself and only appears occasionally
in the civil or social laws of the Spec. Leg.® though
many of these have been allegorized at length in the
Commentary.° Here again I cannot see any clear
principle on which some particular laws are chosen
for such treatment. On the other hand, when he is
dealing with the sacrifices in Book I and the feasts
in Book II allegory or rather symbolism is almost
universal. Naturally enough. For both sacrifices and
feasts have little meaning for him except the spiritual.

whether, when Philo departs from the substance of the Terah,
he is adjusting it to what was administered or to what he
himself thought reasonable. Secondly, that Prof. Good-
enough much exaggerates, if not the ‘“‘rephrasing and re-
interpretation,” at any rate the “‘ alterations and denials.”
So that after reading and re-reading the book and with full
acknowledgement of the useful and illuminating remarks in
which it abounds, I adhere to my view that, with the reserva-
tions mentioned above, Philo gives a fair and accurate account
of the laws which he discusses. α See, however, § 49.
> Sp. Leg. i. 8 ff., 327 ff., ii. 29 ff., iii. 178 ff. |
¢ Two notable examples are Deut. xxi. 18-21, the stoning
of the disobedient son, the allegorical sermon on which
occupies ἃ large part of De Ebr., and ib. 15-17, the right of
the firstborn son of the discarded wife, which is the text for
the long allegory in De Sac. 19 ff., and again in De Sob. 21.
These two are treated literally without any hint of allegory
in Sp. Leg. ii. 232 f. and 135 f. respectively. Still more
remarkable is Philo’s treatment of Deut. xx. 5-7 (exemption
of the newly-married etc. from military service). In De Agr.
149 an allegory is suggested on the grounds that the
sense of the exemption taken literally is at least doubtful
(157). In De Virt. 27 ff. it is extolled as a wise measure. A
similar inconsistency in dealing with “‘ till the death of the
high priest’? (Num. xxxv. 28) is pointed out in the note
to Sp. Leg. iii. 131 (App. p. 638).
xiii

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

What is the purpose of the Exposition ἢ I think it
is best expressed in the words of De Vita Moss ii. 44,
where he says that if the Jewish people prospered
better each nation would abandon its ancestral cus-
toms and turn to honouring their laws alone and that
these would darken the light of the others as the risen
sun darkens the stars. That is to say, by this exposi-
tion he wishes to show the world at large how admir-
able is the Pentateuchal code, and if this is so, the
natural answer to the question for whom was the
Exposition written will be, primarily at any rate, for
Gentiles. In the introduction to the preceding
volume I noted characteristics in the treatises on
Abraham and Joseph which pointed that way, and
nothing in this volume seems to me to imply the
contrary,* while in his insistence on the duty of
honouring and welcoming proselytes and on the uni-
versal priesthood of the Jewish race we may see
positive signs of a desire to interest and conciliate
Gentile readers. It is true that the epilogue, the De
Praemis, seems to be addressed mainly to the Jews,
but if we expand “ primarily for Gentiles ” by the
addition “and also for Jews though not of the type
which delighted in the tortuous meditations of the
Commentary,” it will probably satisfy the facts. It
is quite in accordance with Philo’s perpetually shifting
mentality that he should have at one moment the
first, at another the second class of readers in view.

The impression which the Exposition leaves is by
no means uniform. We may naturally be revolted
by the ferocity with which he supports the severer

@ T agree with Goodenough (Harvard Theological Review,
Apr. 1933, pp. 110 ff.) against Massebieau that such phrases as
** Our Nation ᾽ (De Dec. 1) have no bearing on the question.

xiv

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

sentences of the Pentateuch and sometimes goes
beyond it. On the other hand we may well admire
the fine liberal spirit shown in the emphasis which he
lays on the humaner side of the code and in his con-
stant plea for kindness to the poor, the helpless and
the stranger. And the spirituality with which he
interprets the baldness of ἐπε Levitical ritual, fanciful
though it be, does something to illuminate what is the
least readable and the least read part of the Old
Testament.

Note ON THE TEXT

While the ms. authority for De Dec. and Sp. Leg.
iii. is fairly plentiful, something has to be said about
the other two treatises in this volume. The some-
what meagre evidence for the text of Sp. Leg. i. has
received in recent years an important addition by the
discovery of ἃ palimpsest which Cohn calls ἢ. The
Philo text of this is said to date probably from the
Qth century. At a later time there were written
across it some commentaries on Aristotle, which
sometimes make the original hand hard to read ; so

α ἢ as we have it contains also De Vita Mosis ii. from
§ 71-end and the whole of De Dec. But as it only came to
Cohn’s knowledge between the publication in 1902 of his
vol. iv (which includes these two treatises), and the publica-
tion of vol. v in 1906, while it is regularly cited in the App.
Crit. to Sp. Leg. i. and ii., it is not so with the App. of the
two earlier treatises. In his account of the manuscript in
Sitzungsberichte der kin. preuss. Ak.der Wissenschaften, 1905,
pp.36 ff. he cites some of its readings in De Dec. with approval,
most of which I have mentioned in my textual notes, but
considers it to be of much less value in that treatise, and still
more in De Vit. Mos., than in Sp. Leg. Some words, however,
suggest that he did not give it the same careful scrutiny in the
books which he had already edited as in those which he
had still to publish.

XV

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

that “ R, ut videtur ᾿᾿ occasionally appears in Cohn’s
App. Crit. He regards it as of special value, though
unfortunately it comes to an end at ii. 95.¢

The state of the text in Book IT is a more compli-
cated matter, and though some of the information
here given will be found in the notes, it may be well
to supply it more fully here.

The Editio Princeps of Philo contained merely the
part dealing with the Third Commandment (§§ 1-38).
The Fourth Commandment down to § 214 was added
by Hoeschel in 1614. But Hoeschel had mss. of Philo
to hand only for the first part of this, namely down to
the end of § 123. From this point he relied on mss. of
Nicetas Serranus, Archbishop of Heraclea,®> which
in the absence of any codex of Philo himself he
believed to be the genuine text. These, however, did
not include the sections on the law of inheritance
(§§ 124-139), nor the conclusion of the Fourth Com-
mandment (the Basket Rite) (§§ 215-223), while the
Fifth Commandment section and the concluding re-
marks were absent altogether.°

In the parts which they cover the excerpts supply
a considerably abridged? version, with a certain

* It should also be noted that §§ 177-193 of Sp. Leg. i. were
absent from the mss. to which Mangey had access. The result
is that in the marginal references in this edition to Mangey’s
paging p. 240 is not followed by p. 241 till after nine pages
of my text instead of after the normal two.

> 1 have no information as to his date. I must apologize
for having called him Nicetes in Vol. iii. p. 511 and elsewhere.

¢ Nicetas’s excerpts are part of a commentary on St. Luke,
this particular set being quoted on ch. xxi. 1 “ Now the feast
of unleavened bread drew nigh which is called the Passover.”’

¢ The extent of the abridging may be easily seen from the
marginal references to Mangey’s pages. A rough calcula-
tion will shew that something like half the full text has been
omitted in §§ 140-214.
xvi

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

amount of variation. Hoeschel’s text was adopted
by Mangey and continued to be accepted till 1818,
when another manuscript (called M) came to light,
containing the full text of the whole book.* The
total result is that for more than half of the book we
have either M alone or at the best M with Nicetas’s
abridgement.?

A few words must be added on the tiresome subject
of the traditional divisions, especially in Book I.
Here the ms. Headings at different points translated
as De Circumctsione, De Monarchia, etc., are sensible
enough, if regarded as indicating the main divisions
of the book. But if taken as introducing separate
treatises, as they are in Mangey’s edition and Yonge’s
translation, they are misleading in that they disguise
the fact that the whole book® is a systematic dis-
sertation on the laws which fall under the two first
commandments. Unfortunately they are too often
used for reference in fairly recent works to be com-
pletely ignored.

In Book IT the separation of the Third, Fourth and
Fifth Commandments is justifiable. But the divisions
of the Fourth, as they appear in the mss., are quite
unnecessary. They are disregarded in Cohn’s head-

* According to Cohn a complete edition of the book from
the mss. was first published by Tischendorf in 1868. Yonge,
however, translated ‘‘the Basket” and ‘‘ Honouring parents ”’
in 1855 from what he calls ‘‘ Schwichest’s edition.”

> M is called a corrupt manuscript by Cohn. But judging
from the emendations recorded its text is far purer than that
of De Post. and De Som. ii., where also we have to rely on a
single codex.

¢ With the exception of the first 11 sections on circumcision
which Philo does not claim to come under a particular com-
mandment.

XVii

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

ings of the pages and partially 4 in his numeration of
chapters.

In Book III the headings and divisions need not
trouble us, though I have indicated them in the
textual notes. They are really quite useless, being
introduced at haphazard and rarely applying to more
than a few sections of the matter they might be
expected to cover. Fortunately Mangey ignores them
in the heading of his pages and Cohn also, as well as
in his numeration of chapters, though both insert
them in the body of the text. It surely cannot be
supposed that they, or indeed any of these headings,
are due to Philo himself.

@ See below

Coun’s NuMERATION oF Cuaprers—The Special Laws I.

The point at which each fresh numeration begins is in-
dicated in the notes, but to facilitate reference a summary is
here appended.

Coun THIS TRANSLATION
De Cireumcisione . ‘ . L-IT. I.-II.
De Monarchia ‘7.-1X. ΠΙΟΧΙ.

De Templo and De Sacerdoti-
b

us. : : 3 . 1.-Χν. XII.-X XVI.
(In Mangey called De Mon-
archia 11.)
De Sacerdotum honoribus . I.-VI. XXVII.-X XXII.
De Victimis . ‘ ἃ . .-XV. XXXIII.-XLVII.
De Sacrificantibus. : .ς. I.-XVI. XLVIIL-LXIII.

NuMERATION OF Cuaprers—The Special Laws II.

CoHN THIS TRANSLATION
The Third Commandment __ I.-IX. [.1Χ.
(No special heading)
De Septenario . ‘ ‘ I,-X XIV. X.-X XXIII.
The Basket Rite . . I-IV. XXXIV.-XXXVITI.
(No special heading)
De parentibus colendis [.-XI XXXVIIL-XLVITE,

XVili

LIST OF PHILO’S WORKS

SHOWING THEIR DIVISION INTO VOLUMES
IN THIS EDITION
VOLUME

I. On the Creation (De Opificio Mundi)
Allegorical Interpretation (Legum Allegoria)

II. On the Cherubim (De Cherubim)
On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain (De Sacrificiis
Abelis et Caini)
The Worse attacks the Better (Quod Deterius Potiori
insidiari solet)
On the Posterity and Exile of Cain (De Posteritate
Caini)
III. On the Unchangeableness of God (Quod Deus im-
mutabilis sit)
On Husbandry (De Agricultura)
On Noah’s Work as a Planter (De Plantatione)
On Drunkenness (De Ebrietate)
On Sobriety (De Sobrietate)

IV. On the Confusion of Tongues (De Confusione Lin-
guarum)
On the Migration of Abraham (De Migratione
Abrahami)
Who is the Heir (Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres)
On the Preliminary Studies (De Congressu quaerendae
- Eruditionis gratia)
V. On Flight and Finding (De Fuga et Inventione)
On the Change of Names (De Mutatione Nominum)
On Dreams (De Somniis)

VI. On Abraham (De Abrahamo)
On Joseph (De Iosepho)
Moses (De Vita Mosis)

LIST OF PHILO’S WORKS

VOLUME

VII,

ΝΠ.

X.

On the Decalogue (De Decalogo)

On the Special Laws Books I-III (De Specialibus
Legibus)

On i ia Laws Book IV (De Specialibus Legi-

us

On the Virtues (De Virtutibus)

On Rewards and Punishments (De Praemiis et
Poenis)

. Every Good Man is Free (Quod Omnis Probus Liber

sit)
On the Contemplative Life (De Vita Contemplativa)
On the Eternity of the World (De Aeternitate Mundi)
Flaccus (In Flaccum)
Hypothetica 1 (Apologia pro Iudaeis)
On Providence! (De Providentia)

On the Embassy to Gaius (De Legatione ad Gaium)
GENERAL InDEx To Votumes I-X

SUPPLEMENT

1.
iI.

xx

Questions and Answers on Genesis? (Quaestiones
et Solutiones in Genesin)

Questions and Answers on Exodus? (Quaestiones et
Solutiones in Exodum)
GENERAL INDEx To SupeLeMeEntTs I-IT

1 Only two fragments extant.
* Extant only in an Armenian version,

THE DECALOGUE
(DE DECALOGO)

INTRODUCTION TO DE DECALOGO

The first part of this treatise deals with some ques-
tions raised by the law-giving on Sinai. First, why was
it given in the desert? Four reasons are suggested :
(a) because of the vanity and idolatry rampant in
cities (2-9), (δ) because solitude promotes repentance
(10-13), (c) because it was well that laws needed for
civic life should begin before the era of that life began
(14), (d) that the divine origin of the laws should be
attested by the miraculous supply of food in the
barren wilderness (15-17). Secondly, observing that
the Commandments given by God Himself were ten,
we ask why that number, and the answer is given by
a disquisition on its perfection as a number (18-31).
Thirdly, what was the nature of the voice which
announced the commandments ?—not God’s, for He
is not a man, but an invisible kind of speech created
for the occasion (32-35). Fourthly, why was the
singular number “thou” used? (a) Because fit
emphasizes the value of the individual soul (36-38),
(b) the personal appeal better secures obedience (39),
(c) it is a lesson to the great not to despise the
humblest (40-44). This part concludes with some
words on the grandeur of the scene, particularly the
fire from which the voice issued (45-49).

Coming to the Commandments themselves, after
noting that they divide into two sets of five (50-51),

3

THE DECALOGUE

we pass to the First. Polytheism is denounced,
particularly as taking the form of worship given to
the elements or heavenly bodies (52-65). Worse than
this is the worship of lifeless images forbidden by
the Second Commandment. Its absurdity is exposed
(66-76) and with it the worse absurdity of Egyptian
animal-worship (77-81). The Third Commandment
is taken as forbidding principally perjury (82-91), but
also reckless swearing (92-95). The Fourth teaches
us to set apart a time for philosophy as opposed to
practical life (96-101), and reasons are given for the
sanctity of seven and the seventh day in particular
(102-105). The Fifth stands on the border-line,
because parenthood assimilates man to God and to
dishonour parents is to dishonour God (106-111).
Children owe all to their parents, and in the duty of
repaying kindness they may take a lesson from the
lower animals (112-120).

The second set of five opens with the prohibition
of Adultery (121). Adultery is denounced as (a)
voluptuous (122), (6) involving the sin of another
(123-124), (c) destructive of family ties (125-127),
(d) cruel to the children (128-131). The second of
the set forbids murder as both unnatural and
sacrilegious, since man is the most sacred of God’s
possessions (132-134). Stealing is forbidden by
the third, because theft on the smallest scale may
develop into wholesale robbery and _ usurpation
(135-137). The fourth forbids false witness, as
opposed in itself to truth and justice, and also in
law-courts causing Judges to give wrong verdicts
and thus break their own oaths (138-141). The
last Commandment against “‘ desire ” gives Philo an
opportunity of discoursing in Stoical terms on the

4,

THE DECALOGUE

four passions, pleasure, grief, fear, desire, of which
the last is the deadliest (142-153).

Sections 154-175 are really a rough synopsis of
Books II., III., and IV. 1-131, shewing the nature of
the particular laws which will be placed under each
commandment. And the concluding sections 176-178
justify the absence of any penalties attached to the
commandments on the grounds that God who is the
cause of good leaves the punishment for transgression
to his subordinates.

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΩΝ ΔΕΚΑ ΛΟΓῺΝ
OI KE®AAAIA NOMON ΕἸΣΙΝ

I. Τοὺς βίους τῶν κατὰ Μωυσέα σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν,
οὗς ἀρχηγέτας τοῦ ἡμετέρου ἔθνους καὶ “νόμους
ἀγράφους at ἱεραὶ βίβλοι δηλοῦσιν, ἐν ταῖς προ-
τέραις συντάξεσι μεμηνυκὼς κατὰ τὰ ἀκόλουθα
ἑξῆς τῶν ἀναγραφέντων νόμων τὰς ἰδέας ἀκριβώσω
μηδ᾽, εἴ τις ὑποφαίνοιτο τρόπος ἀλληγορίας, τοῦτον
παρεὶς ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς διάνοιαν φιλομαθοῦς ἐπι-
στήμης, ἧ πρὸ τῶν ἐμφανῶν ἔθος τὰ ἀφανῆ ζητεῖν.

A A A ὶ
2 Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀποροῦντας, τί δή ποτε οὐκ ἐν
’ 3 9 9 9 V4 4 A l4 > »
πόλεσιν ἀλλ᾽ ev ἐρήμῳ βαθείᾳ τοὺς νόμους ἐτίθει,
λεκτέον πρῶτον μέν, ὅτι at πολλαὶ τῶν πόλεων
9 “- ~
[181] ἀμυθήτων κακῶν εἰσι | μεσταί, καὶ τῶν πρὸς TO
θεῖον ἀνοσιουργημάτων καὶ τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους
3 Ul 50." ’ “ A 4
8 ἀδικημάτων. οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὃ μὴ κεκιβδήλευται,
τὰ γνήσια τῶν νόθων παρευημερούντων καὶ τἀληθῆ
τῶν εἰκότων, ἃ φύσει μὲν κατέψευσται, πιθανὰς
9 e Ul / A > Ul 9 ’

4 δ᾽ ὑποβάλλει φαντασίας πρὸς ἀπάτην. ἐν πόλεσιν

Φ A e 4 9 4 4 ~ 4
οὖν καὶ ὁ πάντων ἐπιβουλότατος φύεται τῦφος, ὅν
τινες τεθήπασι καὶ προσκυνοῦσι τὰς κενὰς δόξας
σεμνοποιοῦντες διὰ χρυσῶν στεφάνων καὶ ἁλουρ-

[180]
1

4 See General Introduction to Vol. VI. pp. ix. f.
» See General Introduction to this volume, p. xiii.
¢ Lit. “ Οη account of studious knowledge tending to under-

6

THE DECALOGUE

I. Having related in the preceding treatises the 1
lives of those whom Moses judged to be men of
wisdom, who are set before us in the Sacred Books
as founders of our nation and in themselves unwritten
laws,* I shall now proceed in due course to give full
descriptions of the written laws. And if some alle-
gorical interpretation should appear to underlie
them, I shall not fail to state it.2 For knowledge
loves to learn and advance to full understanding ¢ and
its way is to seek the hidden meaning rather than
the obvious.

To the question why he promulgated his laws in 2
the depths of the desert instead of in cities we may
answer in the first place that most cities are full of
countless evils, both acts of impiety towards God
and wrongdoing between man and man. For every- 3
thing is debased, the genuine overpowered by the
spurious, the true by the specious, which is intrinsi-
cally false but creates impressions whose plausibility
serves but to delude. So too in cities there arises 4
that most insidious of foes, Pride, admired and
worshipped by some who add dignity to vain ideas °
by means of gold crowns and purple robes and a

standing.”’ I cannot think that the text is right. For further
discussion and attempts to emend it see App. p. 609.
ἀ Or “ vanity.” ¢ Or “ opinions.”

PHILO

γίδων καὶ πλήθους θεραπόντων καὶ ὀχημάτων,
ep ὧν οἱ λεγόμενοι μακάριοι καὶ εὐδαίμονες
μετέωροι φέρονται, τοτὲ μὲν ὀρεῖς ἢ ἵππους
καταζευγνύντες τοτὲ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπους, οἱ τὰ
φορεῖα κατὰ τῶν αὐχένων ἀχθοφοροῦσι τὴν ψυχὴν
πρὸ τοῦ σώματος δι᾿ ὑπερβολὴν ὕβρεως πιεζόμενοι.
11. τῦφος καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων κακῶν δημιουργός
ἐστιν, ἀλαζονείας, ὑπεροψίας, ἀνισότητος" at
εἰσὶν ἀρχαὶ ξενικῶν καὶ ἐμφυλίων πολέμων οὐδὲν
μέρος, οὐ κοινόν, οὐκ ἴδιον, οὐ κατὰ γῆν, οὐ κατὰ.
6 θάλατταν, ἡσυχάζειν ἐῶσαι. τί δὲ δεῖ
τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἁμαρτημάτων μεμνῆσθαι;
τύφῳ γὰρ καὶ τὰ θεῖα ἐξωλιγώρηται, καίτοι
νομιζόμενα τῆς ἀνωτάτω τυγχάνειν τιμῆς" τιμὴ
δὲ τίς ἂν γένοιτο, μὴ προσούσης ἀληθείας, ἣ καὶ
ὄνομα καὶ ἔργον ἔχει τίμιον, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος
Ἴ ἔμπαλιν ἄτιμον φύσει; ἡ δ᾽ ὀλιγωρία τῶν θείων
ἐμφανὴς τοῖς ὀξυδερκέστερον ὁρῶσι μυρίας γὰρ
ὅσας διὰ γραφικῆς καὶ πλαστικῆς μορφώσαντες
ἰδέας ἱερὰ καὶ νεὼς αὐταῖς προσπεριεβάλοντο καὶ
βωμοὺς κατασκευάσαντες ἀγάλμασι καὶ ἕξοάνοις
καὶ τοιουτοτρόποις ἀφιδρύμασι τιμὰς ἰσολυμπίους
8 καὶ ἰσοθέους «ἀπένειμαν, ἅπασιν ἀψύχοις. οὗς
εὐθυβόλως al ἱεραὶ γραφαὶ τοῖς ἐκ πόρνης γεγο-
νόσιν ἀπεικάζουσιν' ὡς γὰρ οὗτοι πάντας, ὅσους
ἐραστὰς ἔσχεν ἡ μήτηρ, ἐπιγράφονται πατέρας
ἑνὸς ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ φύσει, οὕτω καὶ οἱ κατὰ πόλεις
οὐκ εἰδότες τὸν ὄντα ὄντως ἀληθῆ θεὸν μυρία
9 πλήθη ψευδωνύμων ἐκτεθειώκασιν. εἶτ᾽ ἄλλων
παρ᾽ ἄλλοις τιμωμένων, ἡ περὶ τοῦ ἀρίστου κρα-.

8

THE DECALOGUE, 4-9

great establishment of servants and cars, on which
these so-called blissful and happy people ride aloft,
drawn sometimes by mules and horses, sometimes
by men, who bear the heavy burden on their
shoulders, yet suffer in soul rather than in body
under the weight of extravagant arrogance. II.
Pride is also the creator of many other evils, 5
boastfulness, haughtiness, inequality, and these are
the sources of wars, both civil and foreign, suffering
no place to remain in peace whether public or private,
whether on sea or on land. Yet why 6
dwell on offences between man and man? Pride also
brings divine things into utter contempt, even though
they are supposed to receive the highest honours.
But what honour can there be if truth be not there
as well, truth honourable both in name and function,
just as falsehood is naturally dishonourable ? This 7
contempt for things divine is manifest to those of
keener vision. For men have employed sculpture
and painting to fashion innumerable forms which they
have enclosed in shrines and temples and after build-
ing altars have assigned celestial and divine honours
to idols of stone and wood and suchlike images, all
of them lifeless things. Such persons are happily 8
compared in the sacred Scriptures to the children of
a harlot *; for as they in their ignorance of their one
natural father ascribe their paternity to all their
mother’s lovers, so too throughout the cities those
who do not know the true, the really existent God
have deified hosts of others who are falsely so called.
Then as some honour one, some another god, diver- 9

@ See note on Spec. Leg. i. 332.

1 So R: other mss, ἀνοσιότητος.

PHILO

τήσασα διχόνοια καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα πάντα
διαφορὰς ἐγέννησεν. εἰς ἃ πρῶτον ἀπιδὼν ἔξω
πόλεων" ἐβουλήθη νομοθετεῖν.

10 ᾿Ενενόει δὲ κἀκεῖνο δεύτερον, ὅτι τοῦ μέλλοντος
ἱεροὺς νόμους παραδέχεσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναγκαῖόν
ἐστιν ἀπορρύψασθαι καὶ ἐκκαθήρασθαι τὰς | δυσ-

[182] εκπλύτους κηλῖδας, ἃς μιγάδων καὶ συγκλύδων
ὄχλος ἀνθρώπων κατὰ πόλεις προσετρίψατο. τοῦτο

11 δὲ ἀμήχανον ἕτέρως ἢ διοικισθέντι συμβῆναι, καὶ
οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀλλὰ μακρῷ χρόνῳ ὕστερον, ἕως ἂν
οἱ τῶν ἀρχαίων παρανομημάτων ἐνσφραγισθέντες
τύποι κατὰ μικρὸν ἀμαυρούμενοι καὶ ἀπορρέοντες

12 ἀφανισθῶσι. τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ οἱ τὴν ἰατρικὴν
ἀγαθοὶ σῴζουσι τοὺς κάμνοντας" οὐ γὰρ “πρότερον
σιτία καὶ ποτὰ παρέχειν ἀξιοῦσι, πρὶν ἢ τὰ τῶν
νόσων αἴτια ὑπεξελέσθαι. μενόντων γὰρ ἀνωφελεῖς
αἵ τροφαί, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιζήμιοι, ὗλαι γινόμεναι τοῦ

13 πάθους. III. εἰκότως οὖν ἐκ τῶν κατὰ πόλεις
βλαβερωτάτων συνηθειῶν εἰς ἐρήμην ἀπαγαγών,
ἵνα κενώσῃ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀδικημάτων, ἤρξατο προσ-
φέρειν ταῖς διανοίαις τροφάς' αὗται δὲ τίνες ἂν
εἷεν ὅτι μὴ νόμοι καὶ “λόγοι θεῖοι;

1 Τρίτη δέ ἐστιν αἰτία ἥδε: καθάπερ ot στελ-
ὄμενοι μακρὸν πλοῦν, οὐχ ὅταν “ἐπιβάντες τῆς
νεὼς ἀπὸ λιμένος ἐξαναχθῶσιν, ἄρχονται κατα-
σκευάζειν ἱστία καὶ πηδάλια καὶ οἴακας, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι
μένοντες ἐπὶ γῆς ἕκαστα τῶν συντεινόντων πρὸς
πλοῦν εὐτρεπίζονται, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἠξίωσεν
οὐ λαβόντας κληρουχίας καὶ τὰς πόλεις οἰκήσαντας
τότε ζητεῖν νόμους, οἷς πολιτεύσονται, ἀλλ᾽
ἑτοιμασαμένους τοὺς τῆς πολιτείας κανόνας καὶ

1 MSS. πόλεως.

10

THE DECALOGUE, 9-14

sity of opinion as to which was best waxed strong and
engendered disputes in every other matter also.
This was the primary consideration which made
him prefer to legislate away from cities.

He had alsoasecond objectinmind. He whois about 10
to receive the holy laws must first cleanse his soul
and purge away the deep-set stains which it has con-
tracted through contact with the motley promiscuous
horde of men in cities. And to this he cannot attain 11
except by dwelling apart, nor that at once, but only
long afterwards, and not till the marks which his old
transgressions have imprinted on him have gradually
grown faint, melted away and disappeared. In this 12
way too good physicians preserve their sick folk :
they think it unadvisable to give them food or drink
until they have removed the causes of their maladies.
While these still remain, nourishment is useless, in-
deed harmful, and acts as fuel to the distemper.
III. Naturally therefore he first led them away from 13
the highly mischievous associations of cities into the
desert, to clear the sins out of their souls, and then
began to set the nourishment before their minds—
and what should this nourishment be but laws and
words of God?

He had a third reason as follows: just as men 14
when setting out on a long voyage do not begin to ἡ
provide sails and rudders and tillers when they have
embarked and left the harbour, but equip themselves
with enough of the gear needed for the voyage while
they are still staying on shore, so Moses did not think
it good that they should just take their portions and
settle in cities and then go in quest of laws to regulate
their civic life, but rather should first provide them-
selves with the rules for that life and gain practice

11

16

PHILO

ἐνασκηθέντας οἷς ἔμελλον ot δῆμοι κυβερνᾶσθαι
σωτηρίως τηνικαῦτα εἰσοικίζεσθαι, χρησομένους
εὐθὺς ταῖς τῶν δικαίων παρασκευαῖς ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ
καὶ κοινωνίᾳ καὶ διανομῇ τῶν ἐπιβαλλόντων
ἑκάστοις.

IV. Φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τετάρτην αἰτίαν οὐκ
ἀπῳδὸν ἀλλ᾽ ἐγγυτάτω τῆς ἀληθείας" ἐπειδὴ γὰρ
ἔδει πίστιν ἐγγενέσθαι ταῖς διανοίαις περὶ τοῦ μὴ
εὑρήματα ἀνθρώπου τοὺς νόμους ἀλλὰ θεοῦ
χρησμοὺς σαφεστάτους εἶναι, πορρωτάτω τῶν
πόλεων ἀπήγαγε τὸ ἔθνος εἰς ἐρήμην βαθεῖαν καὶ
ἄγονον οὐ “μόνον ἡμέρων καρπῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ποτίμου
ὕδατος, ἵ ἵν᾽, ἐὰν ἐν σπάνει γενόμενοι τῶν ἀναγκαίων
καὶ δίψει καὶ λιμῷ διαφθαρῆναι προσδοκήσαντες
ἐξαπιναίως ἀφθονίαν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀπαυτοματι-
σθέντων ἀνευρίσκωσιν, οὐρανοῦ μὲν ὕοντος τροφὰς
τὸ καλούμενον μάννα, προσόψημα δὲ τροφῶν ἀπ᾽"
ἀέρος ὀρτυγομήτρας φοράν, ὕδατος δὲ πικροῦ
γλυκαινομένου πρὸς τὸ πότιμον, πέτρας δὲ ἀκρο-
τόμου πηγὰς ἀνομβρούσης, μηκέτι θαυμάζωσιν,
εἰ λόγια θεοῦ συμβέβηκεν εἶναι τοὺς νόμους,
ἐναργεστάτην βάσανον εἰληφότες ἐ ἐκ τῶν χορηγιῶν,
ἃς ἐξ ἀπόρων ἔσχον οὐκ ἐλπίσαντες. ὁ γὰρ πρὸς
τὸ ζῆν ἀφθονίαν δοὺς καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὸ εὖ ζῆν
ἀφορμὰς ἐδωρεῖτο: πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὸ ζῆν σιτίων
ἔδει καὶ ποτῶν, ἅπερ ἀνεύρισκον οὐχ ἑτοιμασάμενοι,

1 So mss. and Cohn. But I should prefer with Mangey to
omit ἀπ᾿. I do not know of any case in which οὐρανός includes
the lower air, as the text implies, while on the other hand the
index gives thirteen examples where heaven, air, water, earth
are named as the four parts of the universe. See Spec. Leg.
iii. 111, and cf. ibid. 152. With ἀπ᾽ omitted each of the four
makes its contribution, earth being given by πέτρας.

12

THE DECALOGUE, 14-17

in all that would surely enable the communities to
steer their course in safety, and then settle down to
follow from the first the principles of justice lying
ready for their use, in harmony and fellowship of
spirit and rendering to every man his due.

IV. Some too give a fourth reason which is not out 15
of keeping with the truth but agrees very closely
with it. As it was necessary to establish a belief in
their minds that the laws were not the inventions of
aman but quite clearly the oracles of God, he led the
nation a great distance away from cities into the
depths of a desert, barren not only of cultivated fruits
but also of water fit for drinking, in order that, 16
if after lacking the necessaries of life and expecting
to perish from hunger and thirst they suddenly
found abundance of sustenance self-produced—when
heaven rained the food called manna and the shower
of quails from the air to add relish to their food—when
the bitter water grew sweet and fit for drinking and
springs gushed out of the steep* rock—they should
no longer wonder whether the laws were actually the
pronouncements of God, since they had been given
the clearest evidence of the truth in the supplies
which they had so unexpectedly received in their
destitution. For He who gave abundance of the means 17
of life also bestowed the wherewithal of a good life ;
for mere life they needed food and drink which they
found without making provision ; for the good life

¢ Or “hard,” “flinty.” Here, as in Mos. i. 210-211,
Philo does not stress the connexion of the word (taken from
Deut. viii. 15), with ἀκρός as he does elsewhere. See note on
Mos. i. 210. The events alluded to are found in Ex. xv.
and xvi.

13

18

PHILO

A \ A On “A / A 4 a.
πρὸς δὲ TO εὖ ζῆν νόμων καὶ διαταγμάτων, ois
βελτιοῦσθαι τὰς ψυχὰς ἔμελλον.

V. Ald’ εἰσὶν ἐν στοχασμοῖς εἰκόσιν αἰτίαι λεγό-
μεναι περὶ τοῦ διαπορηθέντος" τὰς γὰρ ἀληθεῖς

> e A 4 > A 9 Ψ Ψ A
οἶδεν ὁ θεὸς μόνος. εἰπὼν δ᾽ ἅπερ ἥρμοττε περὶ
τούτων ἑξῆς αὐτοὺς ἀκριβώσω τοὺς νόμους, ἐκεῖνο

A 4 A
κατὰ TO ἀναγκαῖον προμηνύσας, ὅτι τῶν νόμων

Δ \ 9 A e \ 9 4 ” >
οὗς μὲν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς οὐ προσχρησάμενος ἄλλῳ δι
e “- ’ ’ 9. δ) eA A Ἁ
ἑαυτοῦ μόνου θεσπίζειν ἠξίωσεν, οὗς δὲ διὰ προ-
φήτου Μωυσέως, ὃν ἀριστίνδην ἐκ πάντων ὡς ἐπι-

19 τηδειότατον ἱεροφάντην ἐπελέξατο. τοὺς

A Ss 9 ’ ’ 9 9 ~

μὲν οὖν αὐτοπροσώπως θεσπισθέντας δι᾽ αὐτοῦ
᾿ ,ὕ 4

μόνου συμβέβηκε καὶ νόμους εἶναι καὶ νόμων

va) U4 oy

τῶν ἐν μέρει κεφάλαια, τοὺς δὲ διὰ τοῦ προ-

90 φήτου πάντας ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνους ἀναφέρεσθαι. VI. λέξω

2]

9 e “4 al εκ A e 4 A ’ὔ
δ᾽, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ, περὶ ἑκατέρων καὶ πρό-
τερόν γε τῶν κεφαλαιωδεστέρων'" ὧν

4 , a” ’ A > A ’ὔ ~~
εὐθέως ἄξιον θαυμάσαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν δεκάδι TH

4 4 a , A > ΄-
παντελείᾳ περατουμένων, ἢ πάσας μὲν ἀριθμῶν
9 ’ὔ A ΄- A > 4
διαφορὰς ἀρτίων καὶ. περιττῶν καὶ ἀρτιοπερίττων,
> 4 N A ΄- A ~ > ’
ἀρτίων μὲν δυοῖν, περιττῶν δὲ τριῶν, ἀρτιοπερίτ-
Si ἐξα ad Sid An eyat BID δ ἢ λ
των δὲ ἕξ, πάσας δὲ λόγων τῶν ἐν ἀριθμοῖς πολυ-
’ὔ A 9 ~ A ~
πλασίων καὶ ἐπιμερῶν καὶ ὑποεπιμερῶν περιέχει,

’ὔ 9 9 ’ὔ ’ > , a ΄-
πάσας δ᾽ ἀναλογίας, τὴν τε ἀριθμητικήν, ἣ τῷ

1 mss. πέντε and so Cohn by an oversight afterwards cor-
rected in a note to Treitel’s translation. This must be a
mistake of the scribe. Philo could not possibly have made it;

cf. Spec. Leg. ii. 58, and the more elaborate explanation of the
even-odds in De Op. 13.

14

THE DECALOGUE, 17-21

they needed laws and ordinances which would bring
improvement to their souls.

V. These are the reasons suggested to answer the 18
question under discussion: they are but probable
surmises ; the true reasons are know to God alone.
Having said what was fitting on this subject, I will
proceed to describe the laws themselves in order,
with this necessary statement by way of introduc-
tion, that some of them God judged fit to deliver in
His own person alone without employing any other,
and some through His prophet Moses whom He
chose as of all men the best suited to be the revealer
of verities. Now we find that those which 19
He gave in His own person and by His own mouth alone
include both laws and heads summarizing the par-
ticular laws, but those in which He spoke through the
prophet all belong to the former class. VI. I will 20
deal with both to the best of my ability, taking those
which are rather of the nature of summaries first.

Here our admiration is at once aroused
by their number, which is neither more nor less than
is the supremely perfect,? Ten. Ten contains all
different kinds of numbers,® even as 2, odd as 3, and
even-odd as 6, and all ratios, whether of a number
to its multiples or fractional, when a number is
either increased or diminished by some part of itself.
So too it contains all the analogies or progressions, the 21
arithmetical where each term in the series is greater

¢ For the Pythagorean origin of the term παντέλεια as
applied to ten see note on De Abr. 244.

ὃ This does not seem to mean more than that all the pro-
perties and mysteries of numbers must necessarily fall within
the decimal system, for “round ten as a turning-point the
unlimited series of numbers wheel and retrace their steps,”
De Op. 47. ¢ 9. improper or proper fractions.

15

PHILO

ἰσαρίθμῳ ὑπερέχει Kal ὑπερέχεται, οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἕν
καὶ δύο καὶ τρία, καὶ τὴν γεωμετρικήν, καθ᾽ ἣν
οἷος ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν πρῶτον τοῦ δευτέρου, τοιοῦ-
τος καὶ ὁ πρὸς τὸν δεύτερον τοῦ τρίτου, ὡς ἔχει
ἐπὶ τοῦ ἕν καὶ δύο καὶ τέσσαρα, ἔν τε διπλασίοις
καὶ τριπλασίοις καὶ συνόλως πολυπλασίοις καὶ
πάλιν ἐν ἡμιολίοις καὶ ἐπιτρίτοις καὶ τοῖς παρα-
πλησίοις, ἔτι μέντοι καὶ τὴν ἁρμονικήν, καθ᾽ ἣν
ὁ μέσος τῶν ἄκρων τῷ ἴσῳ μορίῳ ὑπερέχει τε καὶ
ὑπερέχεται, ὡς ἔχει ἐπὶ τοῦ τρίτου καὶ τετάρτου

22 καὶ ἕκτου. περιέχει δὲ ἡ δεκὰς καὶ τὰς
τῶν τριγώνων καὶ τετραγώνων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
πολυγώνων ἐμφαινομένας ἰδιότητας καὶ τὰς τῶν
συμφωνιῶν, τήν τε διὰ τεσσάρων ἐν ἐπιτρίτῳ

[184] λόγῳ, τῷ τέσσαρα | πρὸς τρία, καὶ τὴν διὰ πέντε ἐν
ἡμιολίῳ, τῷ “τρία πρὸς δύο, καὶ τὴν διὰ πασῶν ἐν
διπλασίῳ, τῷ δύο πρὸς ἕν, καὶ τὴν δὶς διὰ πασῶν

28 ἐν τετραπλασίῳ, τῷ ὀκτὼ πρὸς δύο. παρό μοι
δοκοῦσι καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι τὰ ὀνόματα τοῖς πράγμασι
θέμενοι--σοφοὶ γὰρ ἦσαν--εἰκότως αὐτὴν προσ-
αγορεῦσαι δεκάδα, ὡσανεὶ δεχάδα οὖσαν, παρὰ τὸ
δέχεσθαι καὶ κεχωρηκέναι τὰ γένη πάντα τῶν
ἀριθμῶν καὶ λόγων τῶν κατ᾽ ἀριθμὸν καὶ ἀνα-
λογιῶν ἁρμονιῶν τε αὖ καὶ συμφωνιῶν.

24 VIL. τὴν μέντοι δεκάδα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ
διὰ ταῦτα εἰκότως av τις θαυμάσειε περιέχουσαν
τήν τε ἀδιάστατον φύσιν καὶ τὴν διαστηματικήν᾽
ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀδιάστατος τάττεται κατὰ σημεῖον
μόνον, ἡ δὲ διαστηματικὴ κατὰ τρεῖς ἰδέας γραμμῆς

25 καὶ ἐπιφανείας καὶ στερεοῦ" τὸ μὲν γὰρ δυσὶ
σημείοις περατούμενόν ἐστι γραμμή, τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ
δύο διαστατὸν ἐπιφάνεια, ῥυείσης ἐπὶ πλάτος

16

THE DECALOGUE, 21-25

than the one below and less than the one above
by the same amount,? as for example 1 2 3; the geo-
metrical where the ratio of the second to the first
term is the same as that of the third to the second,
as with 1 2 4, and this is seen whether the ratio is
double or treble or any multiple, or again fractional
as 3 to 2, 4 to 3, and the like ; once more the har-
monic in which the middle term exceeds and is ex-
ceeded by the extremes on either side by the same
fraction, as is the case with 3, 4, 6.® Ten 22
also contains the properties observed in triangles,
quadrilaterals and other polygons, and also those of
the concords, the fourth, fifth, octave and double
octave intervals, where the ratios are respectively 14,
te. 4:3, 14, ἐ.6. 3:2, doubled, z.e. 2:1, fourfold,
1.6. 8:2. Consequently it seems to me that those 23
who first gave names to things did reasonably, wise
men that they were, in giving it the name of decad,
as being the dechad, or receiver, because it receives
and has made room for every kind of number and
numerical ratio and progressions and also concords
and harmonies. VII. But indeed apart 24
from what has been said, the decad may reason-
ably be admired because it embraces Nature as seen
both with and without extension in space. Nature
exists without extension nowhere except in the point ;
with extension in three forms, line, surface, solid.
For space as limited by two points is a line, but, 26
where there are two dimensions, we have a surface,

@ Lit. ‘‘ which exceeds and is exceeded by the same number.”
See App. p. 609.

> See the more detailed explanation in De Op. 109, where
the example given is that 6, 8, 12 are in harmonic progression
because 8 exceeds 6 by 4 of 6, and is exceeded by 12 by 4 of
12. Here as often the ordinal is used for the cardinal.

VOL. VII Cc 17

PHILO

γραμμῆς, τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τρία στερεόν, μήκους καὶ
πλάτους βάθος προσλαβόντων, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἵσταται ἡ
φύσις" πλείους γὰρ τριῶν διαστάσεις οὐκ ἐγέννησεν.
26 ἀρχέτυποι δὲ τούτων ἀριθμοὶ τοῦ μὲν ἀδιαστάτου
σημείου τὸ ἕν, τῆς δὲ γραμμῆς τὰ δύο, καὶ ἐπι-
φανείας μὲν τρία, στερεοῦ δὲ “τέσσαρα, ὧν ἡ
σύνθεσις ἑνὸς καὶ δυοῖν καὶ τριῶν καὶ τεσσάρων
ἀποτελεῖ δεκάδα παραφαίΐνουσαν τοῖς ὁρατικοῖς
27 καὶ ἕτερα κάλλη" σχεδὸν γὰρ ἡ ἀπειρία τῶν
ἀριθμῶν ταύτῃ μετρεῖται, διότι οἵ συστήσαντες
αὐτὴν ὅροι πέσσαρές εἰσιν, ἕν καὶ δύο καὶ τρία καὶ
τέτταρα, οἱ δ᾽ ἴσοι ὅροι ἑκατοντάδα γεννῶσιν ἐκ
δεκάδων--δέκα γὰρ καὶ εἴκοσι καὶ τριάκοντα καὶ
τεσσαράκοντα γίνονται éxaTov—, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ
χιλιάδα ἐξ ἑκατοντάδων καὶ μυριάδα ἐκ χιλιάδων,
μονὰς δὲ καὶ δεκὰς καὶ ἑκατοντὰς καὶ χιλιὰς
28 τέσσαρες ὅροι οἱ δεκάδα γεννῶντες" ἥτις δίχα τῶν
nates εἰρημένων καὶ ἑτέρας ἀριθμῶν ἐμφαίνει
διαφοράς, τόν τε πρῶτον κόσμον, ὃς μονάδι μόνῃ
μετρεῖται, οὗ παράδειγμα ὁ τρεῖς, ὁ πέντε, ὁ ἑπτά,
καὶ τὸν τετράγωνον, τὸν τέσσαρα, τὸν ἰσάκις ἴσον,
καὶ μὲν δὴ τὸν κύβον, τὸν ὀκτώ, ὃς ἐστιν ἰσάκις
ἴσος ἰσάκις, καὶ τὸν τέλειον, τὸν ἐξ, ἰσούμενον τοῖς
ἑαυτοῦ μέρεσι, τρισὶ καὶ δυσὶ καὶ ἑνί. VI. | τί
δὲ δεῖ καταλέγεσθαι τὰς δεκάδος ἀρετὰς ἀπείρους
τὸ πλῆθος, πάρεργον ποιουμένους ἔργον μέγιστον,
ὃ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ συμβέβηκεν αὐταρκεστάτην εἶναι
ὑπόθεσιν τοῖς περὶ τὰ μαθήματα διατρίβουσι;

[185] -
29

α This seems to be the meaning, though both 6 ὅροι and γεννάω
are used in a different sense from what they have in the earlier
part of the sentence, where the ὅροι generate by addition to each

18

THE DECALOGUE, 25-29

as the line has expanded into breadth ; where there
are three, we have a solid, as length and breadth
have acquired depth, and here Nature comes to a
halt, for she has not produced more than three dimen-
sions. All these have numbers for their archetypes, 26
1 for the non-extended point, 2 for the line, 3 for
the surface, 4 for the solid, and these one, two, three,
four added together make the ten which gives a
glimpse of other beauties also to those who have
eyes to see. For we may say that the infinite series 27
of numbers is measured by ten, because its constituent
terms are the four, 1, 2, 3,4, and the same terms
produce the hundred out of the tens, since 10, 20,
30, 40 make a hundred, and similarly the thousand
is produced out of the hundreds and the ten thousand
or myriad out of the thousands, and these, the unit,
the ten, the hundred and the thousand are the four
starting-points from each of which springs a ten.4
And again, this same ten, apart from what has already 28
been said, reveals other differences in numbers ;
the order of prime numbers divisible by the unit
alone having for its pattern three, five, seven: the
square, that is four, the cube, eight, the products
respectively of two and three equal numbers, and
the perfect number six equal to the sum? of its
factors 3, 2 and 1. VIII. But why enumerate the 29
virtues of Ten, which are infinite in number, and thus
treat perfunctorily a task of supreme greatness which
by itself is found to be an all-sufficing subject for

other. Presumably the pupids is not named as a new starting-
point, because Greek has no special term for ten myriads or
beyond.

ὃ Or perhaps “ both the product and sum,” ef. De Op. 13.
But the essence of ‘‘ perfection ᾽᾽ lies in the sum, as exempli-
fied by 28, cf. Mos. ii. 84 and note.

19

PHILO

Tas μὲν οὖν ἄλλας ὑπερθετέον, μιᾶς
δ᾽ οὐκ ἄτοπον ἴσως ἐπιμνησθῆναι δείγματος é ἕνεκα.

80 τὰς γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει λεγομένας κατηγορίας δέκά

21

32

μόνας εἶναί φασιν ot ἐνδιατρίβοντες τοῖς τῆς
’
φιλοσοφίας δόγμασιν: οὐσίαν, ποιόν, ποσόν, πρός
A / , A a
Tl, ποιεῖν, πάσχειν, ἔχειν, κεῖσθαι, τὰ ὧν οὐκ
,
ἄνευ {πάνταδ, χρόνον καὶ τόπον. οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστι
4 3 @
τούτων ἀμέτοχον: οἷον ἐγὼ μετέχω μὲν οὐσίας
Ul 3 4 “
δανεισάμενος ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστου τῶν στοιχείων, ἐξ ὧν
3 Ul Ψ e / ~ A 4 \
ἀπετελέσθη ὅδε ὁ κόσμος, γῆς Kal ὕδατος Kal
59 \ \ \
ἀέρος καὶ πυρός, TA πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν σύστασιν avT-
αρκέστατα' μετέχω δὲ καὶ ποιότητος, καθ᾽ ἣν
4 4 3 \ Ὁ
ἄνθρωπός εἶμι, καὶ ποσότητος, ἧ πηλίκος" γίνομαι
\ \ Ul A \
δὲ Kal πρός TL, ὅταν μου πρὸς δεξιοῖς τις ἢ πρὸς
4 > > \ \ A
εὐωνύμοις H* ἀλλὰ Kal ποιῶ, τρίβων TL ἢ KElpwr,*
\ 4 4 δ 4 3 /
καὶ πάσχω, κειρόμενος ἢ τριβόμενος ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρων"
3 “A 3 ἐξ iC av β βλ 4 Ls!
Kav τῷ exew ἐξετάζομαι, ἢ περιβεβλημένος ἢ
’ A A
ὡπλισμένος, Kav τῷ κεῖσθαι, σχέδην" τι καθεζό-
μενος ἣ κατακεκλιμένος" εἰμὶ δὲ πάντως κἂν τόπῳ
καὶ χρόνῳ, τῶν προειρημένων οὐδενὸς δυναμένου
χωρὶς ἀμφοῖν ὑφίστασθαι.
\ \ Oy > v4 4
IX. Ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ἀποχρώντως λελέχθω, συν-
/ 9 3 “ A 3 ’ὔ \ 4
υφαίνειν δ ἀναγκαῖον τὰ ἀκόλουθα. τοὺς δέκα
λόγους ἢ χρησμούς, νόμους ἢ θεσμοὺς πρὸς
ἀλήθειαν ὄντας, ἀθροισθέντος τοῦ ἔθνους ἀνδρῶν
ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναικῶν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν, ὃ πατὴρ τῶν
> σι 4
ὅλων ἐθέσπισεν. ἄρά ye φωνῆς τρόπον προέμενος
1 mss. καίων. Clearly it must correspond with the passive
following. But Aristotle in Categ. has καίω and καίομαι as
his examples.
? So Mangey with most mss.: Cohn σχεδόν with M. Though

the addition of τὸ may perhaps rather point to σχεδόν I do
not see what it can mean here. σχέδην regarded as the

20

ν

THE DECALOGUE, 29-32

students of mathematics? But while we
must leave unnoticed the rest, there is one which
may without impropriety be mentioned as a sample.
Those who study the doctrines of philosophy say 30
that the categories * in nature, as they are called, are
ten only, substance, quality, quantity, relation,
activity, passivity, state, position and the indis-
pensables for all existence, time and place. There 31
is nothing which does not participate in these cate-
gories. I have substance, for I have borrowed what
is all-sufficient to make me what I am from each of
the elements out of which this world was framed,
earth, water, air and fire. I have quality in so far
as I am a man, and quantity as being of a certain size.
I become relative when anyone is on my right hand
or my left, I am active when I rub or shave ὃ anything,
or passive when I am rubbed or shaved. I am ina
particular state when I wear clothing or arms and in
a particular position when 1 sit quietly or am lying
down, and I am necessarily both in place and time
since none of the above conditions can exist without
these two.

IX. These points have been sufficiently discussed 32
and may now be left. We must proceed to carry on
the discussion to embrace what follows next. The
ten words or oracles, in reality laws or statutes,
were delivered by the Father of All when the nation,
men and women alike, were assembled together.
Did He do so by His own utterance in the form of a

@ On the categories see App. pp. 609-610.

δ Or “shear.”” κείρω seems to have been a favourite word

for exemplifying the force of the three voices. See note on
De Cher. 79.

adverb of σχέσις, often used by Philo in contrast with κίνησις
(see particularly De Sobr. 34), seems quite appropriate here.

21

33

[186]

35

36

PHILO

αὐτός; ἄπαγε, und εἰς νοῦν mor ἔλθοι τὸν
ἡμέτερον" οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ θεός, στόματος
καὶ γλώττης καὶ ἀρτηριῶν δεόμενος. ἀλλά γέ μοι
δοκεῖ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἱ ἱεροπρεπέστατόν τι
θαυματουργῆσαι κελεύσας ἦχον ἀόρατον ἐν ἀέρι
ηἡμιουργηθῆναι, πάντων ὀργάνων θαυμασιώτερον,
ἁρμονίαις τελείαις ἡρμοσμένον, οὐκ ἄψυχον ἀλλ’
οὐδ᾽ ἐκ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς τρόπον ζῴου συνεστη-
κότα," ἀλλὰ ψυχὴν λογικὴν ἀνάπλεων; σαφηνείας

\ a 4
καὶ τρανότητος, ἢ τὸν ἀέρα σχηματίσασα καὶ
ἐπιτείνασα καὶ πρὸς πῦρ φλογοειδὲς μεταβαλοῦσα
καθάπερ πνεῦμα διὰ σάλπιγγος ὠνὴν τοσαύτην
ἔναρθρον ἐξήχησεν, ὡς τοῖς ἔγγιστα τοὺς πορρω-
τάτω κατ ἴσον ἀκροᾶσθαι δοκεῖν. ἀνθρώπων
μὲν γὰρ αἱ φωναὶ πρὸς μήκιστον ἀποτεινόμεναι
πεφύκασιν ἐξασθενεῖν, ὡς ἀριδήλους τοῖς μακρὰν.
ἀφεστηκόσι μὴ γίνεσθαι τὰς ἀντιλήψεις ταῖς
ἐπεκτάσεσιν ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾽ ὀλίγον ἀμαυρουμένας,
ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὰ ὄργανα φθαρτά: τὴν δὲ κεκαινουρ-
γημένην φωνὴν ἐπιπνέουσα θεοῦ δύναμις ἤγειρε
καὶ ἐζωπύρει καὶ ἀναχέουσα πάντῃ τὸ τέλος τῆς
ἀρχῆς ἀπέφαινε τηλαυγέστερον, ἀκοὴν ἑτέραν πολὺ
βελτίω τῆς δι᾽ ὦτων ταῖς ἑκάστων ψυχαῖς ἐντιθεῖσα"
ἡ μὲν γὰρ βραδυτέρα πως οὖσα αἴσθησις ἀτρεμίζει,
μέχρις ἂν ὑπ᾽ ἀέρος πληχθεῖσα διακινηθῇ, φθάνει
δ᾽ ἡ τῆς ἐνθέου διανοίας ὀξυτάτῳ τάχει προ-
ὑπαντῶσα τοῖς λεγομένοις.

Χ, Φωνῆς μὲν δὴ τῆς θείας πέρι τοσαῦτα.
δεόντως δ᾽ ἂν τις ἀπορήσαι, τοῦ χάριν, πλείστων

1 MSS. συνεστηκὼς OF -ὸς OF -ότα.
2 Cohn prints ἀνάπλεω, which appears in one s., but I
cannot discover any authority for this form of the acc.

22

THE DECALOGUE, 32-36

voice ? Surely not : may no such thought ever enter
our minds, for God is not as a man needing mouth
and tongue and windpipe. I should suppose that 33
God wrought on this occasion a miracle of a truly
holy kind by bidding an invisible sound to be created
in the air more marvellous than all instruments and
fitted with perfect harmonies, not soulless, nor yet
composed of body and soul like a living creature, but
a rational soul full of clearness and distinctness, which
giving shape and tension to the air and changing it
to flaming fire, sounded forth like the breath through
a trumpet an articulate voice so loud that it appeared
to be equally audible to the farthest as well as the
nearest. For it is the nature of men’s voices if 34
carried to a great distance to grow faint so that per-
sons afar off have but an indistinct impression which
gradually fades away with each lengthening of the
extension, since the organism which produces them
also is subject to decay.* But the new miraculous voice 35
was set in action and kept in flame by the power of
God which breathed upon it and spread it abroad on
every side and made it more illuminating in its ending
than in its beginning by creating in the souls of each
and all another kind of hearing far superior to the
hearing of the ears. For that is but a sluggish sense,
inactive until aroused by the impact of the air, but
the hearing of the mind possessed by God makes the
first advance and goes out to meet the spoken words
with the keenest rapidity.

X. So much for the divine voice. But we may 36
properly ask why, when all these many thousands were

¢ Or perhaps ‘‘ just as musical instruments (and therefore
the sounds which they make) are subject to decay.”

23

97

98

99

40

PHILO

3
ὅσων μυριάδων εἰς ἕν ἠθροισμένων χωρίον, ἕκαστον
A A
θεσπίζειν τῶν δέκα λογίων ἠξίωσεν ὡς οὐχὶ πρὸς

’ 3 > e A Φ cc 9 4 a)
πλείους ἀλλ᾽ ws πρὸς ἕνα, “ οὐ μοιχεύσεις
λέ 66 3 4 a) 66 9 λέ a) A A

éywv, “ οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις ᾿᾿ καὶ τὰ
” 4 , iO Δ 4 4 4
ἄλλα ταύτῃ. λεκτέον οὖν ἕν μέν, ὅτι βούλεται
4 > , 4 \ 3 4
κάλλιστον ἀναδιδάξαι μάθημα τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας
ταῖς ἱεραῖς γραφαῖς, ὡς apa καθ᾽ αὑτὸν εἷς ἕκαστος,
ὅταν ἢ νόμιμος καὶ θεῷ καταπειθής, ¢ ἰσότιμός ἐστιν
ὅλῳ ἔθνει πολυανθρωποτάτῳ, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πᾶσιν
ἔθνεσιν, εἰ δὲ δεῖ περαιτέρω προελθόντα εἰπεῖν,
καὶ παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ. διόπερ ἐν ἑτέροις ἐπαινῶν

, ” ’ 4. 3 ’ 3 e \ 4 2)
τινα δίκαιον ἄνδρα φησίν" “ ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς σός ᾿᾿"
ὁ δ᾽ αὐτὸς ἦν καὶ κόσμου θεός, ὡς τοὺς ὑπη-
κόους τὴν αὐτὴν τεταγμένους τάξιν καὶ ὁμοίως
εὐαρεστοῦντας τῷ ταξιάρχῳ τῆς ἴσης ἀποδοχῆς
καὶ τιμῆς μεταλαμβάνειν.

EUTEPOV δέ, ὅτι “κοινῇ μὲν ὡς πλήθει τις ἐκ-
κλησιάζων οὐκ. ἐξ ἀνάγκης διαλέγεται ἑνί, ὅτε δὲ
προστάττων ἢ ἀπαγορεύων ἰδίᾳ ὡς ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ,
τῶν ἐμφερομένων εὐθὺς ἂν δόξαι τὰ πρακτέα καὶ

~ “A 3 A
κοινῇ πᾶσιν ἀθρόοις ὑφηγεῖσθαι: εὐπειθέστερος δὲ
ὁ τὰς παραινέσεις αὐτοπροσώπως δεχόμενος, ὁ δὲ

A 9 e¢ 7 , A Ν᾿
συλλήβδην μεθ᾽ ἑτέρων κεκώφωται τὸν ὄχλον
ἀφηνιασμοῦ παρακάλυμμα ποιούμενος.

Τρίτον, ἵνα μηδείς ποτε βασιλεὺς ἢ τύραννος
> A 3 ’ Ξ 4 A > ,
ἀφανοῦς ἰδιώτου καταφρονήσῃ γεμισθεὶς ἀλαζονείας

α Gen. xvii. 1 xxx; E.V. “I am God Almighty.”

> | have punctuated and translated this sentence in the
only way which seems to me possible, if the text is to stand,
i.e. I have placed a comma after ἑκάστῳ instead of (as Cohn)
after ἀπαγορεύων, and understand ἐκκλησιάζει ΟΥ διαλέγεται
after ὅτε δὲ and take τῶν ἐμφερομένων as partitive after

24:

THE DECALOGUE, 36-40

collected in one spot, He thought good in proclaiming
His ten oracles to address each not-as to several
persons but as to one, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal,
and so too with the rest. One answer which must 37
be given is that He wishes to teach the readers of the
sacred scriptures a most excellent lesson, namely
that each single person, when he is law-abiding and
obedient to God, is equal in worth to a whole nation,
even the most populous, or rather to all nations, and
if we may go still farther, even to the whole world.
And therefore elsewhere, when He praises a certain 38
just man, He says, I am thy God,? though He was
also the God of the world. And thus we see that all
the rank and file who are posted in the same line
and give a like satisfaction to their commander, have
an equal share of approbation and honour.

A second reason is that a speaker who harangues 39
a multitude in general does not necessarily talk to
any one person, whereas if he addresses his com-
mands or prohibitions as though to each individual
separately, the practical instructions given in the
course of his speech are at once held to apply to the
whole body in common also.® Ifthe exhortations are
received as a personal message, the hearer is more
ready to obey, but if collectively with others, he is
deaf to them, since he takes the multitude as a cover
for disobedience. |

A third reason is that He wills that no king or 40
despot swollen with arrogance and contempt should
despise an insignificant private person but shouldstudy

πρακτέα = °° among the contents of his speech.”’ But it is ex-
ceedingly awkward and some corruption is probable. For
further discussion see App. p. 610.

25

[187]

4]

42

43

PHILO

καὶ ὑπεροψίας, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὰ τῶν ἱερῶν νόμων
διδασκαλεῖα φοιτήσας | χαλάσῃ τὰς ὀφρῦς, ἀπο-
μαθὼν οἴησιν εἰκότι μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀληθεῖ λογισμῷ.
εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἀγένητος καὶ ἄφθαρτος καὶ ἀΐδιος καὶ
οὐδενὸς ἐπιδεὴς καὶ ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων καὶ εὐ--
εργέτης καὶ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ θεὸς θεῶν οὐδὲ
τὸν ταπεινότατον ὑπεριδεῖν ὑπέμεινεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ
τοῦτον εὐωχῆσαι λογίων καὶ θεσμῶν ἱερῶν ἠξίωσεν,
ὡς μόνον ἑστιᾶν μέλλων καὶ μόνῳ τὸ συμπόσιον
εὐτρεπίζεσθαι πρὸς ψυχῆς ἀνάχυσιν ἱεροφαντου-
μένης, 4 έμις τὰς μεγάλας τελεῖσθαι τελετάς,
ἐμοὶ τῷ θνητῷ τί προσῆκον ὑψαυχενεῖν καὶ πεφυ-
σῆσθαι. φρυαττομένῳ πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοίους, οἱ τύχαις
μὲν ἀνίσοις ἴση δὲ καὶ ὁμοίᾳ συγγενείᾳ κέχρηνται
μίαν ἐπιγραψάμενοι μητέρα τὴν κοινὴν ἁπάντων
ἀν ρώπων ύσιν; εὐπρόσιτον οὖν καὶ εὐέντευκτον
ἐμαυτὸν παρέξω, κἂν τὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς θαλάττης
κράτος ἀνάψωμαι, τοῖς ἀπορωτάτοις καὶ ἀδοξο-
τάτοις καὶ οἰκειοτάτης συμμαχίας ἐρήμοις, ἕκα-
τέρου τῶν γονέων ὀρφανοῖς καὶ γυναι L χηρείαν
ὑπομενούσαις καὶ πρεσ ύταις ἢ μὴ παιδοποιη-
σαμένοις τὸ παράπαν ἢ ἀποβαλοῦσιν ὠκυμόρους
οὗς ἐγέννησαν. ἄνθρωπος γὰρ ὧν ὄγκον καὶ
σεμνότητα τετραγῳδημένην οὐ δικαιώσω προσ-
ίεσθαι, μενῶ δ᾽ ἐντὸς τῆς φύσεως τοὺς ὅρους
αὐτῆς μὴ ὑπερβαίνων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐθίζων τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ
διάνοιαν ἀνθρωποπαθεῖν, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὰς ἀδήλους
πρὸς τἀναντία μεταβολὰς καὶ τῶν εὖ πραττόντων
καὶ τῶν ἐν κακοπραγίαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀρ-
μόττειν, κἂν ἀτρέπτως καὶ βεβαίως παραμένῃ
τὸ εὐτυχεῖν, μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθαί τινα ἑαυτοῦ.

26

THE DECALOGUE, 40-48

in the school of the divine laws and abate his super-
cilious airs, and through the reasonableness or rather
the assured truth of their arguments unlearn his self-
conceit. For if the Uncreated, the Incorruptible, the 41
Eternal, Who needs nothing and is the maker of all,
the Benefactor and King of kings and God of gods
could not brook to despise even the humblest, but
deigned to banquet him on holy oracles and statutes,
as though he should be the sole guest, as though
for him alone the feast was prepared to give good
cheer to a soul instructed in the holy secrets and
accepted for admission to the greatest mysteries,
what right have I, the mortal, to bear myself proud-
necked, puffed-up and loud-voiced, towards my fellows,
who, though their fortunes be unequal, have equal
rights of kinship because they can claim to be children
of the one common mother of mankind, nature? So 42
then, though I be invested with the sovereignty of
earth and sea, I will make myself affable and easy of
access to the poorest, to the meanest, to the lonely
who have none close at hand to help them, to orphans
who have lost both parents, to wives on whom widow-
hood has fallen, to old men either childless from the
first or bereaved by the early death of those whom
they begot. For as I am a man, IJ shall not deem it 43
right to adopt the lofty grandeur of the pompous
stage, but make nature my home and not overstep
her limits. I will inure my mind to have the feelings
of a human being, not only because the lot both of
the prosperous and the unfortunate may change to
the reverse we know not when, but also because it
is right that even if good fortune remains securely
established, a man should not forget what he is.

27

PHILO

διὰ ταῦτά μοι δοκεῖ τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἑνικῶς ἀπο-
τεινάμενος ὡς πρὸς ἕνα θεσπίζειν ἐθελῆσαι.

44 ΧΙ. Πάντα δ᾽ ὡς εἰκὸς τὰ περὶ τὸν τόπον
ἐθαυματουργεῖτο, κτύποις βροντῶν μειζόνων ἢ
ὥστε χωρεῖν ἀκοάς, ἀστραπῶν λάμψεσιν αὐγοει-
δεστάταις, ἀοράτου σάλπιγγος ἠχῇ πρὸς μήκιστον
ἀποτεινούσῃ, καθόδῳ νεφέλης, ἣ κίονος τρόπον
τὴν μὲν βάσιν ἐπὶ γῆς ἠρήρειστο, τὸ δ᾽ ἄλλο σῶμα
πρὸς αἰθέριον ὕψος ἀνέτεινε, πυρὸς οὐρανίου φορᾷ
καπνῷ βαθεῖ τὰ ἐν κύκλῳ συσκιάζοντος" ἔδει γὰρ
θεοῦ δυνάμεως ἀφικνουμένης μηδὲν τῶν τοῦ
κόσμου μερῶν ἡσυχάζειν, ἀλλὰ πάντα πρὸς

[188] ὑ ὑπηρεσίαν συγκεκινῆσθαι. παρειστήκει δὲ ὁ

45 λεὼς ἁγνεύσας ὁμιλιῶν τῶν πρὸς γυναῖκας καὶ
πασῶν ἡδονῶν ἔξω τῶν πρὸς τροφὰς ἀναγκαίων
ἀποσχόμενος, λουτροῖς τε καὶ περιρραντηρίοις
καθηράμενος ἐκ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, ἔτι καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας
ἀποπλυνάμενος, ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα λευχείμων, ἀκρο-
βατῶν καὶ ἀνωρθιακὼς τὰ ὦτα, Μωυσέως προ-
δηλώσαντος εὐτρεπίζεσθαι πρὸς ἐκκλησίαν: ἔγνω
γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐσομένην, ἡνίκα μόνος ἀνακληθεὶς

46 ἐχρησμῳδεῖτο. φωνὴ δ᾽ ἐκ μέσου τοῦ ῥυέντος ἀπ᾽
οὐρανοῦ “πυρὸς ἐξήχει καταπληκτικωτάτη, τῆς
φλογὸς εἰς διάλεκτον ἀρθρουμένης τὴν συνήθη τοῖς
ἀκροωμένοις, ἧ τὰ λεγόμενα οὕτως ἐναργῶς
ἐτρανοῦτο, ὡς ὁρᾶν αὐτὰ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀκούειν δοκεῖν.

47 ἐγγυᾶται δέ μου τὸν λόγον ὁ νόμος, ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται:
“πᾶς 6 λαὸς ἑώρα τὴν φωνήν ᾿᾿" ἐμφαντικώτατα'

4 For this and the next section see Ex. xx. 14-19.
> So uxx, Ex. xix. 18, cf. De Mig. 47, Mos. ii. 213.
98

THE DECALOGUE, 43-47

Such was the reason, as it seems to me, why he willed
to word the series of his oracles in the singular form,
and delivers them as though to one alone.

XI.* It was natural that the place should be the 44
scene of all that was wonderful, claps of thunder
louder than the ears could hold, flashes of lightning
of surpassing brightness, the sound of an invisible
trumpet reaching to the greatest distance, the de-
scent of a cloud which like a pillar stood with its foot
planted on the earth, while the rest of its body
extended to the height of the upper air, the rush
of heaven-sent fire which shrouded all around in dense
smoke. For when the power of God arrives, needs
must be that no part of the world should remain
inactive, but all move together to do Him service.
Near by stood the people. They had kept pure from 45
intercourse with women and abstained from all
pleasures save those which are necessary for the
sustenance of life. They had cleansed themselves
with ablutions and lustrations for three days past,
and moreover had washed their clothes. So in the
whitest of raiment they stood on tiptoe with ears
pricked up in obedience to the warning of Moses to
prepare themselves for a congregation which he knew
would be held from the oracular advice he received
when he was summoned up by himself. Then from 46
the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there
sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for
the flame became articulate speech in the language
familiar to the audience, and so clearly and distinctly
were the words formed by it that they seemed to see
rather than hear them. What I say is vouched for 47
by the law in which it is written, “‘ All the people
saw the voice,’ δ a phrase fraught with much meaning,

29

48

49

50

51

PHILO

A \ \ > / 3 \ S 4
τὴν μὲν yap ἀνθρώπων ἀκουστὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκεν,
e \ \ e > A \ A \ 4 v4 id
ὁρατὴν δὲ ws ἀληθῶς τὴν θεοῦ. διὰ τί; ὅτι ὅσα
nN 4 ’ὔ 9 ¢/ ’ὔ 3 > > 0 Φ
ἂν λέγῃ ὁ θεός, οὐ ῥήματά ἐστιν ἀλλ᾽ ἔργα, ἅπερ
ὀφθαλμοὶ πρὸ ὦτων δικάζουσι. παγκάλως μέντοι
καὶ θεοπρεπῶς εἴρηται ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ φωνὴ
προέρχεσθαι: ἠκρίβωται γὰρ καὶ βεβασάνισται τὰ
τοῦ θεοῦ λόγια καθάπερ χρυσὸς πυρί. μηνύει δὲ
\ A “-
καὶ διὰ συμβόλου τι τοιοῦτον: ἐπειδὴ τοῦ πυρὸς τὸ
μὲν φωτίζειν τὸ δὲ καίειν πέφυκεν, οἱ μὲν τοῖς
χρησμοῖς ἀξιοῦντες εἶναι καταπειθεῖς ὡς ἐν ἀσκίῳ
ωτὶ τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον βιώσονται τοὺς νόμους αὐτοὺς
ἀστέρας ἔχοντες ἐν ψυχῇ φωσφοροῦντας, ὅσοι δ᾽
>
ἀφηνιασταί, Kaidpevor Kal κατακαιόμενοι δια-
“- ς \ A ” 3 A “a \
τελοῦσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἔνδον ἐπιθυμιῶν, at φλογὸς
4 A 3 ’
τρόπον πορθήσουσι τὸν σύμπαντα τῶν ἐχόντων
ίον.

XII. “A μὲν οὖν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν προδηλῶσαι,
a 9 3 4 39 9 9 \ \ ὋΣ 4 \ λό
ταῦτ᾽ ἐστίν. ἐπ᾽ αὐτὰ δὲ ἤδη τρεπτέον τὰ λόγια
καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τούτοις ἐρευνητέον διάφορα.
δέκα τοίνυν ὄντα διένειμεν εἰς δύο πεντάδας, ἃς

\
δυσὶ στήλαις ἐνεχάραξε, Kal ἡ μὲν προτέρα πεντὰς
τὰ πρωτεῖα ἔλαχεν, ἡ δ᾽ ἑτέρα δευτερείων ἠξιοῦτο"

\ 9 > 4 \ A 3 4 e \
καλαὶ δ᾽ ἀμφότεραι καὶ βιωφελεῖς, εὐρείας ὁδοὺς
καὶ λεωφόρους ἑνὶ τέλει περατουμένας ἀνα-
στέλλουσαι πρὸς ἄπταιστον ψυχῆς ἐφιεμένης ἀεὶ
τοῦ βελτίστου πορείαν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀμείνων πεντὰς
τοιάδε ἢ ἦν" περὶ μοναρχίας, 7) μοναρχεῖται ὃ κόσμος"
4

a

“περὶ ξοάνων καὶ ἀγα μάτων καὶ συνόλως ἀφ-

[189]

ἱἰδρυμάτων χειροκμήτων" περὶ τοῦ μὴ λαμβάνειν
ἐπὶ ματαίῳ θεοῦ πρόσρησιν" περὶ τοῦ τὴν ἱερὰν

ἑβδόμην ἄγειν ἱεροπρεπῶς" περὶ γονέων τιμῆς καὶ
ἰδίᾳ ἑκατέρου καὶ ἀμφοτέρων κοινῇ" ws εἶναι τῆς

30

THE DECALOGUE, 47-51

for it is the case that the voice of men is audible,
but the voice of God truly visible. Whyso? Because
whatever God says is not words but deeds, which are
judged by the eyes rather than the ears. Admirable 48
too, and worthy of the Godhead, is the saying that the
voice proceeded from the fire, for the oracles of God
have been refined and assayed as gold is by fire.
And it conveys too, symbolically, some such meaning 49
as this: since it is the nature of fire both to give
light and to burn, those who resolve to be obedient
to the divine utterances will live for ever as in un-
clouded light with the laws themselves as stars
illuminating their souls, while all who are rebellious
will continue to be burnt, aye and burnt to ashes, by
their inward lusts, which like a flame will ravage the
whole life of those in whom they dwell.

XII. Such are the points which required a pre- 50
liminary treatment. We must now turn to the oracles
themselves and examine all the different matters
with which they deal. We find that He divided the
ten into two sets of five which He engraved on two
_tables, and the first five obtained the first place, while
the other was awarded the second. Both are ex-
cellent and profitable for life; both open out broad
highroads leading at the end to a single goal, roads
along which a soul which ever desires the best can
travel without stumbling. The superior set of five 51
treats of the following matters: the monarchical
principle by which the world is governed: idols of
stone and wood and images in general made by
human hands: the sin of taking the name of God
in vain: the reverent observance of the sacred
seventh day as befits its holiness : the duty of honour-
ing parents, each separately and both in common.

31

52

53

PHILO

μιᾶς γραφῆς τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα καὶ
ποιητὴν τοῦ παντός, τὸ δὲ τέλος γονεῖς, OL μιμού-
μενοι τὴν ἐκείνου φύσιν γεννῶσι τοὺς ἐπὶ μέρους.
ἡ δ᾽ ἑτέρα πεντὰς τὰς πάσας ἀπαγορεύσεις περιέχει"
μοιχείας, φόνου, κλοπῆς, ψευδομαρτυριῶν, ἐπι-
θυμιῶν.

᾿Επισκεπτέον δὲ μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας τῶν
λογίων ἕκαστον μηδὲν πάρεργον αὐτῶν ποιου-
μένους. ἀρχὴ δ᾽ ἀρίστη πάντων μὲν τῶν ὄντων
θεός, ἀρετῶν δ᾽ εὐσέβεια" περὶ ὧν ἀναγκαιότατον
πρῶτον διεξελθεῖν. πλάνος τις οὐ μικρὸς
τὸ πλεῖστον τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος κατέσχηκε περὶ
πράγματος, ὅπερ ἢ μόνον ἢ μάλιστα ἦν εἰκὸς
ἀπλανέστατον ταῖς ἑκάστων διανοίαις ἐνιδρῦσθαι.
ἐκτεθειώκασι γὰρ οἱ μὲν τὰς τέσσαρας ἀρχάς, γῆν
καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ ἀέρα καὶ πῦρ, of δ᾽ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην
καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πλανήτας καὶ ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας,
οἱ δὲ μόνον τὸν οὐρανόν, οἱ δὲ τὸν σύμπαντα
κόσμον: τὸν δ᾽ ἀνωτάτω καὶ πρεσβύτατον, τὸν
γεννητήν, τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς μεγαλοπόλεως, τὸν

στρατάρχην τῆς ἀηττήτου στρατιᾶς, τὸν κυβερνήτην,

Δ 9 A 4

OS OLKOVOLLEL σωτηρίως ἀεὶ τὰ συμπαντα, παρ-
, 9

εκαλύψαντο ψευδωνύμους προσρήσεις ἐκείνοις ἐπι-

54 φημίσαντες ἑτέρας ἕτεροι. καλοῦσι γὰρ οἱ μὲν

A “A 4 A 4 \ \
τὴν γῆν Κόρην, Δήμητραν, IAovtwva, τὴν δὲ
θάλατταν ἸΠοσειδῶνα, δαίμονας ἐναλίους ὑπάρχους
αὐτῷ προσαναπλάττοντες καὶ θεραπείας ὁμίλους

’ 3 ’ \ A Ὁ \ \
μεγάλους ἀρρένων te Kat θηλειῶν, Ἥραν δὲ τὸν

9.9 A A “A Ὁ \ Ψ 9 ,
ἀέρα καὶ τὸ πῦρ “Ἥφαιστον καὶ ἥλιον ᾿Απόλλωνα

\ / v7 \ ς / 9 ’
καὶ σελήνην Αρτεμιν καὶ ἑωσφόρον ᾿Αφροδίτην
32

THE DECALOGUE, 51-54

Thus one set of enactments begins with God the
Father and Maker of all, and ends with parents who
copy His nature by begetting particular persons.
The other set of five contains all the prohibitions,
namely adultery, murder, theft, false witness,
covetousness or lust.

We must examine with all care each of the pro- 52
nouncements, giving perfunctory treatment to none.
The transcendent source of all that exists is God, as
piety is the source of the virtues, and it is very
necessary that these two should be first discussed.

A great delusion has taken hold of the
larger part of mankind in regard to a fact which
properly should be established beyond all question in
every mind to the exclusion of, or at least above, all
others. For some have deified the four elements, 53
earth, water, air and fire, others the sun, moon,
planets ὦ and fixed stars, others again the heaven by
itself, others the whole world. But the highest and
the most august, the Begetter, the Ruler of the great
World-city, the Commander-in-Chief of the invincible
host, the Pilot who ever steers all things in safety, Him.
they have hidden from sight by the misleading titles
assigned to the objects of worship mentioned above.
Different people give them different names: some 54
call the earth Koré or Demeter or Pluto, and the
sea Poseidon, and invent marine deities subordinate
to him and great companies of attendants, male and
female. They call air Hera? and fire Hephaestus,
the sun Apollo, the moon Artemis, the morning-star

* Greek ‘“‘the other planets,” the sun and moon being
regarded as planets. > See App. p. 610.

VOL. VII D 33

PHILO

55 καὶ στίλβοντα Ἑρμῆν" καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων
ἑκάστου τὰς ἐπωνυμίας ᾿μυθογράφοι' παρέδοσαν, οἵ
πρὸς ἀπάτην ἀκοῆς εὖ ᾿τετεχνασμένα πλάσματα
συνυφήναντες ἔδοξαν περὶ τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσιν

56 κεκομψεῦσθαι" τόν τε οὐρανὸν εἰς ἡμισφαίρια τῷ
λόγῳ διχῇ διανείμαντες, τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς. 70
ὑπὸ γῆς, Διοσκόρους ἐκάλεσαν τὸ περὶ THs ἑτερη-
μέρου ζωῆς αὐτῶν προστερατευσάμενοι διήγημα.

57 τοῦ γὰρ οὐρανοῦ συνεχῶς καὶ ἀπαύστως ἀεὶ κύκλῳ
περιπολοῦντος, ἀνάγκη τῶν ἡμισφαιρίων ἑκάτερον
ἀντιμεθίστασθαι “παρ᾽ ἡμέραν ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω
γινόμενον ὅσα τῷ δοκεῖν" ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω “πρὸς
ἀλήθειαν οὐδὲν ἐ ἐν σφαίρᾳ, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν |

[190] σχέσιν αὐτὸ μόνον εἴωθε λέγεσθαι τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ

58 κεφαλῆς ἄνω, κάτω δὲ τοὐναντίον. τῷ
δὴ φιλοσοφεῖν ἀνόθως ἐγνωκότι καὶ ἀδόλου καὶ
καθαρᾶς εὐσεβείας μεταποιουμένῳ κάλλιστον καὶ
ὁσιώτατον ὑφηγεῖται παράγγελμα, μηδὲν τῶν τοῦ
κόσμου μερῶν αὐτοκρατῆ θεὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν εἶναι"
καὶ γὰρ γέγονε, γένεσις δὲ φθορᾶς ἀρχή, κἂν
προνοίᾳ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἀθανατίζηται, καὶ ἦν
ποτε χρόνος, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν’ θεὸν δὲ πρότερον οὐκ ὄντα
καὶ ἀπό τινος χρόνου γενόμενον καὶ μὴ διαιωνίζοντα

59 λέγειν οὐ θεμιτόν. XIII. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἔνιοι
περὶ τὰς κρίσεις ἀπονοίᾳ τοσαύτῃ κέχρηνται, ὡς
οὐ μόνον τὰ εἰρημένα θεοὺς νομίζειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ
ἕκαστον αὐτῶν μέγιστον καὶ πρῶτον θεόν, τὸν

1 mss. μυθογράφους or -οις.

¢ Or “sparkler,” ‘“ twinkler.’’ For these non-mythological
names of the planets see Quis Rerum 224,

34

THE DECALOGUE, 55-59

Aphrodite and the glitterer * Hermes, and each of the 55
other stars have names handed down by the myth-
makers, who have put together fables skilfully con-
trived to deceive the hearers and thus won a reputa-
tion for accomplishment in name-giving. So too in 56
accordance with the theory by which they divided
the heaven into two hemispheres, one above the
earth and one below it, they called them the Dioscuri
and invented a further miraculous story of their
living on alternate days.° For indeed as heaven is 57
always revolving ceaselessly and continuously round
and round, each hemisphere must necessarily al-
ternately change its position day by day and become
upper or lower as it appears, though in reality there

is no upper or lower in a spherical figure, and it is
merely in relation to our own position that we are
accustomed to speak of what is above our heads as
upper and the opposite to this as lower.

Now to one who is determined to follow a genuine 58
philosophy and make a pure and guileless piety his
own, Moses gives this truly admirable and religious
command that he should not suppose any of the
parts of the universe to be the omnipotent God.
For the world has become what it is, and its becom-
ing is the beginning of its destruction, even though
by the providence of God it be made immortal, and
there was a time when it was not. But to speak of
God as “ not being ᾿᾿ at some former time, or having
“become ”’ at some particular time and not existing .
for all eternity is profanity. XIII. But 59
there are some whose views are affected with such
folly that they not only regard the said objects as
gods but each of them severally as the greatest and

> Od. xi. 303. See App. p. 610.
35

PHILO

ὄντα ὄντως ἢ οὐκ εἰδότες ἀδιδάκτῳ TH φύσει 7) οὐ
σπουδάζοντες μαθεῖν, ἕνεκα τοῦ μηδὲν ἔξω τῶν
αἰσθητῶν ἀόρατον καὶ νοητὸν αἴτιον ὑπολαμβάνειν
εἶναι, καίτοι σαφεστάτης ἐγγὺς παρακειμένης
60 πίστεως. ψυχῇ γὰρ ζῶντες καὶ βουλευόμενοι καὶ
πάνθ᾽ ὅσα κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον δρῶντες
οὐδέποτε ψυχὴν ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος ἴσχυσαν
θεάσασθαι, καΐτοι φιλοτιμηθέντες ἂν πάσας φιλο-
τιμίας, εἴ πὼς ἰδεῖν οἷόν τε ἦν τὸ ἄγαλμα τὸ πάντων
ἱεροπρεπέστατον, ἀφ᾽ οὗ κατὰ μετάβασιν εἰκὸς
ἦν ἔννοιαν τοῦ ἀγενήτου καὶ ἀιδίου λαβεῖν, ὃς
ἅπαντα τὸν κόσμον ἡνιοχῶν σωτηρίως ἀόρατος
61 ὧν κατευθύνει. καθάπερ οὖν τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως
τὰς τιμὰς εἴ τις τοῖς ὑπάρχοις σατράπαις a ἀπένειμεν,
ἔδοξεν ἂν οὐκ ἀγνωμονέστατος μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
ῥιψοκινδυνότατος εἷναι χαριζόμενος τὰ δεσπότου
δούλοις, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον [ἂν] τοῖς αὐτοῖς εἴ τις
γεραίρει τὸν πεποιηκότα τοῖς γεγονόσιν, ἴστω
πάντων ἀβουλότατος ὧν καὶ ἀδικώτατος, ἴσα
διδοὺς ἀνίσοις οὐκ ἐπὶ τιμῇ τῶν ταπεινοτέρων ἀλλ᾽
62 ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τοῦ κρείττονος. εἰσὶ δ᾽
ol καὶ προσυπερβάλλουσιν ἀσεβείᾳ μηδὲ τὸ ἴσὸν
ἀποδιδόντες, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν τὰ πάντα τῶν ἐπὶ τιμῇ
χαριζόμενοι, τῷ δ᾽ οὐδὲν νέμοντες ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ
μνήμην, τὸ κοινότατον' ἐπιλήθονται γὰρ οὗ μόνον
[191] μεμνῆσθαι. προσῆκον ἦν, | ἐπιτηδεύοντες ot βαρυ-
68 δαίμονες ἑκούσιον λήθην. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ στομάργῳ
κατεχόμενοι λύττῃ τὰ δείγματα τῆς ἐνιδρυμένης
ἀσεβείας εἰς μέσον προφέροντες βλασφημεῖν ἐπι-

α So, I think, rather than as Mangey “ utique solius”’
Treitel ‘‘ ausschliesslich,’”? which would rather be μόνου.

36 ἢ

THE DECALOGUE, 59-63

primal God. Incapacity for instruction or indifference
to learning prevents them from knowing the truly
Existent because they suppose that there is no in-
visible and conceptual cause outside what the senses
perceive, though the clearest possible proof lies ready
at their hand. For while it is with the soul that they 60
live and plan and carry out all the affairs of human
life, they can never see the soul with the eyes of the
body, though every feeling of ambition might well
have been aroused in the hope of seeing that most
august of all sacred objects, the natural stepping-
stone to the conception of the Uncreated and Eternal,
the invisible Charioteer who guides in safety the
whole universe. So just as anyone who rendered 61
to the subordinate satraps the honours due to the
Great King would have seemed to reach the height
not only of unwisdom but of foolhardiness, by be-
stowing on servants what belonged to their master,
in the same way anyone who pays the same tribute
to the creatures as to their Maker may be assured
that he is the most senseless and unjust of men
in that he gives equal measure to those who are
not equal, though he does not thereby honour
the meaner many but deposes the one superior.
And there are some who in a further 62
excess of impiety do not even give this equal
payment, but bestow on those others all that can
tend to honour, while to Him they refuse even the
commonest of all tributes, that of remembering
Him. Whom duty bids them remember, if nothing
more,* Him they forget, a forgetfulness deliberately
practised to their lasting misery. Some again, seized 63
with a loud-mouthed frenzy, publish abroad samples
of their deep-seated impiety and attempt to blas-

37

64

65

66

PHILO

χειροῦσι τὸ θεῖον, ἀκονησάμενοι κακήγορον γλῶτ-
ταν, ἅμα καὶ λυπεῖν ἐθέλοντες τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας,
οἷς ἄλεκτον καὶ ἀπαρηγόρητον εὐθὺς εἰσδύεται
πένθος τὴν ὅλην πυρπολοῦν ψυχὴν δι’ ὦτων' ἡ
γὰρ τῶν ἀνοσίων ἐλέπολις τοῦτ᾽ ἐστίν, ᾧ “μόνῳ
τοὺς φιλοθέους ἐπιστομίζουσι νομίζοντας ὑπὲρ τοῦ
μὴ παροξύνειν ἐν τῷ παρόντι κάλλιστον ἡσυχίαν.
XIV. πᾶσαν οὖν τὴν τοιαύτην τερθρείαν ἀπωσά-
μενοι τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς φύσει μὴ προσκυνῶμεν, εἰ
καὶ καθαρωτέρας καὶ ἀθανατωτέρας οὐσίας ἔλαχον
--ἀδελφὰ δ᾽ ἀλλήλων τὰ γενόμενα καθὸ γέγονεν,
ἐπεὶ καὶ πατὴρ ἁπάντων εἷς ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων
ἐστίν,--ἀλλὰ καὶ διανοίᾳ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ
δυνάμει τῇ τοῦ ἀγενήτου καὶ ἀιδίου καὶ τῶν ὅλων
αἰτίου θεραπείᾳ σφόδρα εὐτόνως καὶ ἐρρωμένως
ἐπαποδυώμεξ α, μὴ ὑποκατακλινόμενοι μηδ᾽ ὑπ-
είκοντες ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ἀρεσκείαις, ὑφ᾽ ὧν
καὶ οἵ δυνάμενοι σῴζεσθαι διαφθείρονται. πρῶτον.
μὲν οὖν παράγγελμα καὶ παραγγελμάτων ἱερώ-
τατον στηλιτεύσωμεν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ἕνα τὸν a ἀνωτάτω
νομίζειν τε καὶ τιμᾶν θεόν: δόξα δ᾽ ἡ πολύθεος
μηδ᾽ ὦτων ψαυέτω καθαρῶς καὶ ἀδόλως ἀνδρὸς
εἰωθότος ζητεῖν ἀλήθειαν.

᾿Αλλ’ ὅσοι μὲν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος
οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὁλοσχερε-
στάτων μερῶν ὡς θεῶν ΄πρόπολοί - τε καὶ Gepamevrat,
διαμαρτάνουσι μὲν--πῶς γὰρ οὔ;--τοὺς ὑπηκόους
πρὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος᾽ ᾿ ἀποσεμνύνοντες, ἧττον δὲ τῶν
ἄλλων ἀδικοῦσι τῶν ξύλα καὶ λίθους ἀργυρόν τε

¢ Mangey strangely says that the brothers are the angels.
But clearly they are the heavenly bodies, which are “ souls
divine and without blemish throughout’”’ (De Gig. 8, where

38

THE DECALOGUE, 63-66

pheme the Godhead, and when they whet the edge
of their evil-speaking tongue they do so in the wish
to grieve the pious who feel at once the inroad of a
sorrow indescribable and inconsolable, which passing
through the ears wastes as with fire the whole soul.
For this is the battery of the unholy, and is in itself
enough to curb the mouths of the devout who hold
that silence is best for the time being to avoid giving

provocation. XIV. Let us then reject all such im- 64

posture and refrain from worshipping those who by
nature are our brothers,* even though they have been
given a substance purer and more immortal than ours,
for created things, in so far as they are created, are
brothers, since they have all one Father, the Maker
of the universe. Let us instead in mind and speech
and every faculty gird ourselves up with vigour and
activity to do the service of the Uncreated, the
Eternal, the Cause of all, not submitting nor abasing
ourselves to do the pleasure of the many who work
the destruction even of those who might be saved.
Let us, then, engrave deep in our hearts this as the
first and most sacred of commandments, to acknow-
ledge and honour one God Who is above all, and let
the idea that gods are many never even reach the
ears of the man whose rule of life is to seek for truth
in purity and guilelessness.

ὑ But while all who give worship and service to sun
and moon and the whole heaven and universe or their
chief parts as gods most undoubtedly err by magnifying
the subjects above the ruler, their offence is less than
that of the others who have given shape to stocks

see note), though elsewhere, as in De Op. 144, admitted to
have bodies. Philo always, I think, distinguishes them from
angels.

> Here begins the Second Commandment.

39

65

66

67
[192]

68

69

70

PHILO

καὶ χρυσὸν Kal τὰς παραπλησίους ὕλας μορφω-
σάντων ὡς φίλον ἑκάστοις, εἶτ ἀγαλμάτων καὶ
oy καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χειροκμήτων, ὧν πλαστικὴ
i ζωγραφία δημιουργοὶ μεγάλα ἔβλαψαν τὸν
βίον τὸν ἀνθρώπινον, καταπλησάντων τὴν οἰκου-
μένην. τὸ γὰρ κάλλιστον ἔρεισμα τῆς | ψυχῆς
ἐξέκοψαν, τὴν περὶ τοῦ ζῶντος ἀεὶ θεοῦ προσ-
ἤκουσαν ὑπόληψιν, ὥσπερ τε ἀνερμάτιστα σκάφη
σαλεύουσιν ὧδε κἀκεῖσε διαφερόμενοι τὸν αἰῶνα,
μηδέποτ᾽ εἰς λιμένα κατᾶραι μηδ᾽ ἐνορμίσασθαι
βεβαίως ἀληθείᾳ δυνάμενοι, τυφλώττοντες περὶ τὸ
θέας ἄξιον, πρὸς ὃ μόνον ὀξυδορκεῖν ἀναγκαῖον
ἦν. καί μοι δοκοῦσι τῶν τὰς τοῦ σώματος ὄψεις
πεπηρωμένων ἀθλιώτερον ζῆν: ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ
ἀκουσίως ἐβλάβησαν ἢ νόσον ὀφθαλμῶν χαλεπὴν
ὑποστάντες ἢ πρὸς ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλευθέντες, οἱ ὃ
ἑκουσίῳ γνώμῃ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμα οὐκ ἠμαύρωσαν
μόνον ᾿ἀλλὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἀποβα εἶν ἠξίωσαν.
ὅθεν τοῖς μὲν ἔλεος ὡς ἠτυχηκόσι, τοῖς δὲ κόλασις
ὡς μοχθηροῖς ἕπεται δικαίως, ot μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων
οὐδὲ τὸ προχειρότατον ἐνενόησαν, ὃ καὶ παῖς
“ ἔγνω νήπιος,᾽᾽ ὅτι τοῦ τεχνιτευθέντος 6 τεχνίτης
ἀμείνων, καὶ χρόνῳ---πρεσβύτερος γὰρ καὶ τρόπον
τινὰ τοῦ δημιουργηθέντος πατήρ---καὶ δυνάμει" τὸ
γὰρ δρῶν τοῦ πάσχοντος ἐπικυδέστερον.
καὶ δέον, εἴπερ ἄρα ἐξημάρτανον, τοὺς ζωγράφους
αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιοὺς ὑπερβολαῖς τιμῶν
ἐκτεθειωκέναι, τοὺς μὲν εἴασαν ἀφανεῖς οὐδὲν
πλέον παρασχόντες, τὰ δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων δημιουρ-

“ΟἹ Iliad, xvii. 32, and Hesiod, Op. 218 παθὼν δέ τε
νήπιος ἔγνω, quoted as a proverb Plato, Symp. 222 8,

40

THE DECALOGUE, 66-70

and stones and silver and gold and similar materials
each according to their fancy and then filled the
habitable world with images and wooden figures and
the other works of human hands fashioned by the
craftsmanship of painting and sculpture, arts which
have wrought great mischief in the life of mankind.
For these idolaters cut away the most excellent 67
support of the soul, the rightful conception of the
Ever-living God. Like boats without ballast they are
for ever tossed and carried about hither and thither,
never able to come to harbour or to rest securely in
the roadstead of truth, blind to the one thing worthy
of contemplation, which alone demands keen-sighted
vision. To my mind they live a more miserable life 68
than those who have lost the sight of the body, for
those have been disabled through no wish of their
own but either through suffering from some grievous
disease of the eyes or through the malice of their
enemies, but these others have of deliberate purpose
not only dimmed but without scruple cast away en-
tirely the eye of the soul. And therefore pity for 69
their misfortune waits upon the former, punishment
for their depravity quite justly on the latter. In their
general ignorance they have failed to perceive even
that most obvious truth which even “ a witless infant
knows, ὦ that the craftsman is superior to the product
of his craft both in time, since he is older than what he
makes and in a sense its father, and in value, since
the efficient element is held in higher esteem than
the passive effect. And while if they 70
were consistent in their sin, they should have deified
the sculptors and painters themselves and given them
honours on a magnificent scale, they leave them in
obscurity and bestow no favour on them, while they

41

PHILO

γηθέντα πλάσματα Kat ζωγραφήματα θεοὺς ἐνό-
71 μισαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν τεχνῖται πολλάκις ἄποροι καὶ
ἄδοξοι κατεγήρασαν ἀτυχίαις ἐπαλλήλοις ἐναπο-
θανόντες, τὰ δὲ τεχνιτευθέντα πορφύρᾳ καὶ
χρυσῷ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις πολυτελείαις, ἃς πλοῦτος
χορηγεῖ, σεμνοποιεῖται καὶ θεραπεύεται, οὐ πρὸς
ἐλευθέρων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐπατριδῶν καὶ τὸ σῶμα
καλλίστων: ἱερέων γὰρ καὶ τὸ γένος ἐξετάζεται
μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας, εἰ ἀνεπίληπτον, καὶ ἡ
κοινωνία τῶν τοῦ σώματος μερῶν, εἰ σύμπασα
72 ὁλόκληρος. καὶ οὔπω τοῦτο δεινόν,
καίτοι δεινὸν ὄν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνο παγχάλεπον: ἤδη γάρ
τινας οἷδα τῶν πεποιηκότων τοῖς πρὸς ἑαυτῶν
γεγονόσιν εὐχομένους τε καὶ θύοντας, οἷς πολὺ
βέλτιον ἦν ἑκατέραν τῶν χειρῶν προσκυνεῖν, εἰ δὲ
μὴ βούλοιντο δόξαν φιλαυτίας ἐκτρεπόμενοι, σφύρας
γοῦν καὶ ἄκμονας καὶ γραφίδας καὶ καρκίνους καὶ
73 τὰ ἄλλα ἐργαλεῖα, δι᾽ ὧν ἐμορφώθησαν αἱ ὗλαι.
[198] XV- | kairo πρὸς τοὺς οὕτως ἀπονοηθέντας ἄξιον
παρρησιασαμένους εἰπεῖν" εὐχῶν ἀρίστην εἶναι
συμβέβηκεν, ὦ γενναῖοι, καὶ τέλος εὐδαιμονίας τὴν
Π4 πρὸς θεὸν ἐξομοίωσιν. εὔχεσθε οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς
ἐξομοιωθῆναι τοῖς ἀφιδρύμασιν, ἵνα τὴν ἀνωτάτω
καρπώσησθε εὐδαιμονίαν, ὀφθαλμοῖς μὴ βλέποντες,
ὠσὶ μὴ ἀκούοντες, μυκτῆρσι μήτε ἀναπνέοντες
μήτε ὀσφραινόμενοι, στόματι μὴ φωνοῦντες μηδὲ
γευόμενοι, χερσὶ μήτε αμβάνοντες μήτε διδόντες
μήτε δρῶντες, ποσὶ μὴ βαδίζοντες, μηδ᾽ ἄλλῳ τινὶ
τῶν μερῶν ἐνεργοῦντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἐν εἱρκτῇ τῷ
ἱερῷ φρουρούμενοι καὶ φυλαττόμενοι, pel ἡμέραν
τε καὶ νύκτωρ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν θυομένων ἀεὶ καπνὸν

42

THE DECALOGUE, 70-74

regard as gods the figures and pictures made by
their workmanship. The artists have often grown 71
old in poverty and disesteem, and mishap after mis-
hap has accompanied them to the grave, while the
works of their art are glorified by the addition of
purple and gold and silver and the other costly em-
bellishments which wealth supplies, and are served
not merely by ordinary freemen but by men of high
birth and great bodily comeliness. For the birth of
priests is made a matter for the most careful scrutiny
to see whether it is unexceptionable, and the several
parts which unite to form the body whether they
make a perfect whole. Horrible as all 72
this is, we have not reached the true horror. The
worst is still to come. We have known some of the
image-makers offer prayers and sacrifices to their
own creations though they would have done much
better to worship each of their two hands, or if they
were disinclined for that because they shrank from»
appearing egotistical, to pay their homage to the
hammers and anvils and pencils and pincers and the
other tools by which their materials were shaped.
XV. Surely to persons so demented we might well say 73
boldly, “΄ Good sirs, the best of prayers and the goal
of happiness is to become like God. Pray you there- 74
fore that you may be made like your images and thus
enjoy supreme happiness with eyes that see not, ears
that hear not, nostrils which neither breathe nor
smell, mouths that never taste nor speak, hands that
neither give nor take nor do anything at all, feet that
walk not, with no activity in any parts of your bodies,
but kept under watch and ward in your temple-prison
day and night, ever drinking in the smoke of the

@ Philo clearly has in mind Ps. exv. 5-8; ef. Spec. Leg. ii. 256.
43

PHILO

~ a A ’ὔ ~ ? 9 :
OTTWVTES* EV yap μονον TOUT ἀγαθὸν προσανα-

75 πλάττετε τοῖς ἀφιδρύμασιν. ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγε νομίζω

76

~ > aA
ταῦτα ἀκούοντας οὐχ ὡς ἐπ᾽ εὐχαῖς ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐπὶ
Ul > 4
κατάραις ἀγανακτήσειν καὶ τρέψεσθαι' πρὸς λοιδο-
’ὔ ” > ~
plas auvvav ἀντικατηγοροῦντας: ὃ μέγιστον ἂν
3 4 “- 9
εἴη τεκμήριον τῆς ἐπιπολαζούσης ἀσεβείας ἀνθρώ-
Ἁ 7 “a
πων θεοὺς νομιζόντων, οἷς ὅμοιοί ποτε Tas φύσεις
> 4 9 a“ ’ὔἢ A > ~
ἀπεύξαιντ᾽ ἂν γενέσθαι. XVI. μηδεὶς οὖν τῶν
> / \ > 4 \
ἐχόντων ψυχὴν ἀψύχῳ τινὶ προσκυνείτω: πάνυ
\ ~ > 4
yap τῶν ἀτόπων ἐστὶ τὰ φύσεως ἔργα πρὸς θερα-
’ὔ 4 “-
πείαν τετράφθαι τῶν χειροκμήτων.
> 4 9
Αἰγυπτίοις" δ᾽ οὐ μόνον τὸ κοινὸν ἔγκλημα χώρας
e 4 1AAG A @ 9 ’ὔ 3 4 4
ἁπάσης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερον ἐξαίρετον ἐπάγεται δεόν-
A \ , \ \ ~
τως" πρὸς yap Eodvois καὶ ἀγάλμασιν ἔτι καὶ ζῷα
»» 4 3 ~ 4 \
ἄλογα παραγηόχασιν εἰς θεῶν τιμάς, ταύρους Kal
\ A 4 3,39 ¢ 4 ,ὔ 4
κριοὺς Kal τράγους, ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῳ μυθικόν τι πλάσμα

, \ A \ Y ” \
77 TETEPATEVMEVOL. Καὶ ταῦτα μεν ἴσως EXEL τινα

4 e , \ \ 9 ’ ~ 4
λόγον, ἡμερώτατα yap Kal ὠφελιμώτατα TH βίῳ"
ἀροτὴρ ὁ βοὺς αὔλακας ἀνατέμνει καιρῷ σπορᾶς,
ἀλοῆσαι πάλιν, ὅταν δέῃ τὸν καρπὸν καθαίρεσθαι,

“- 4
δυνατώτατος" 6 κριὸς TO κάλλιστον τῶν σκεπασμά-
των, ἐσθῆτα, παρέχει" γυμνὰ γὰρ ἂν τὰ σώματα
διεφθεί αδί ἢ διὰ θάλ ἡ διὰ κρύο

ιεφθείρετο ῥᾳδίως, ἢ διὰ θάλπος ἢ pvos |
” \ \ A > 4? ἐκ, A \
ἄμετρον, τοτὲ μὲν τῷ ἀφ᾽ ἡλίου φλογμῷ, τοτὲ

A “A > 9 5.3 4 \ de
78 δὲ TH am ἀέρος περιψύξει. νυνὶ δὲ προσυπερ-

1 mss. τρέψασθαι.

2 So Cohn from the αἰγυπτίων of some authorities. The
αἰγύπτω of the majority agrees well with χώρας, though not
so well with the plurals which follow.

4 Rather a strange phrase for mankind, but justified by
44

THE DECALOGUE, 74-78

victims. For this is the one good which you imagine
your idols to enjoy.” As a matter of fact 1 expect 75
that such advice would be received with indignation
as savouring of imprecations rather than of prayers
and would call forth abusive repudiations and retorts,
and this would be the strongest proof of the wide
extent of impiety shown by men who acknowledge
gods of such a nature that they would abominate the
idea of resembling them. XVI. Letno one,then, who 76
has a soul worship a soulless thing, for it is utterly
preposterous that the works of nature 5 should turn
aside to do service to what human hands have
wrought. But the Egyptians are rightly
charged not only on the count to which every country
is liable, but also on another peculiar to themselves.
For in addition to wooden and other images, they
have advanced to divine honours irrational animals,?
bulls and rams and goats, and invented for each some
fabulous legend of wonder. And with these perhaps 77
there might be some reason, for they are thoroughly
domesticated and useful for our livelihood. The ox
is a plougher and opens up furrows at seed-time and
again is a very capable thresher when the corn has
to be purged ; the ram provides the best possible
shelter, namely, clothing, for if our bodies were naked
they would easily perish, either through heat or
through intense cold, in the first case under the
scorching of the sun, in the latter through the re-
frigeration caused by the air. But actually the 78
Egyptians have gone to a further excess and chosen

the antithesis to χειρόκμητα. Possibly our “ brethren,” the
stars, which would also have to worship the images, if they
were worthy of worship, are included.

ὃ For other references to Egyptian animal worship see
App. pp. 610-611.

45

PHILO

βάλλοντες καὶ τῶν ἀνημέρων τὰ ἀγριώτατα Kal
ἀτιθασώτατα, λέοντας καὶ κροκοδείλους καὶ ἐρ-
πετῶν τὴν ἰοβόλον ἀσπίδα, γεραίρουσιν ἱεροῖς καὶ
τεμένεσι θυσίαις τε καὶ πανηγύρεσι καὶ πομπαῖς
καὶ τοῖς παραπλησίοις: ἀφ᾽ ἑκατέρου γὰρ τῶν εἰς
[194] χρῆσιν δοθέντων ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ θεοῦ, γῆς καὶ
ὕδατος, διερευνησάμενοι τὰ ἀγριώτατα οὔτε <TaV)
χερσαίων λέοντος θηριωδέστερον ἀνεῦρον οὔτε
κροκοδείλου τῶν ἐνύδρων ἀγριώτερον, ἃ σέβουσι
79 καὶ τιμῶσι. πολλὰ μέντοι καὶ ἄλλα ζῷα, κύνας,
αἰλούρους, λύκους, καὶ πτηνὰ ἴβιδας καὶ ἱέρακας,
καὶ πάλιν ἰχθύων ἢ ὅλα τὰ σώματα ἣ μέρη τούτων
ἐκτεθειώκασιν" ὧν τί ἂν γένοιτο καταγελαστότερον;
80 καὶ δὴ τῶν ξένων ot πρῶτον εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀφικό-
μενοι, πρὶν τὸν ἐγχώριον τῦφον εἰσοικίσασθαι ταῖς
διανοίαις, ἐκθνήσκουσι χλευάζοντες: ὅσοι δὲ παι-
δείας ὀρθῆς ἐγεύσαντο, τὴν ἐπ᾽ ἀσέμνοις πράγμασι
σεμνοποιίαν καταπλαγέντες οἰκτίζονται τοὺς χρω-
μένους, ἀθλιωτέρους, ὅπερ εἰκός, ὑπολαμβάνοντες
εἶναι τῶν τιμωμένων, μεταβεβληκότας εἰς ἐκεῖνα
τὰς ψυχάς, ὡς ἀνθρωποειδῆ θηρία περινοστεῖν
81 δοκεῖν. ἀνελὼν οὖν ἐκ τῆς ἱερᾶς νομο-
θεσίας πᾶσαν τὴν τοιαύτην ἐκθέωσιν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ.
πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὄντος θεοῦ τιμὴν ἐκάλεσεν, ἑαυτοῦ
τιμῆς οὐ προσδεόμενος--οὐ γὰρ ἑτέρου χρεῖος ἦν
ὁ αὐταρκέστατος ἑαυτῷ---, βουλόμενος δὲ τὸ γένος
τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνοδίαις πλαζόμενον εἰς ἀπλανε-
στάτην ἄγειν ὁδόν, ἵν᾽ ἑπόμενον τῇ φύσει τὸ ἄριστον
εὕρηται τέλος, ἐπιστήμην τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος, ὅς ἐστι
τὸ πρῶτον ἀγαθὸν καὶ τελεώτατον, ἀφ᾽ οὗ τρόπον
46

THE DECALOGUE, 78-81

the fiercest and most savage of wild animals, lions and
crocodiles and among reptiles the venomous asp, all
of which they dignify with temples, sacred precincts,
sacrifices, assemblies, processions and the like. For
after ransacking the two elements given by God to
man for his use, earth and water, to find their fiercest
occupants, they found on land no creature more
savage than the lion nor in water than the crocodile
and these they reverence and honour. Many other 79
animals too they have deified, dogs, cats, wolves
and among the birds, ibises and hawks; fishes
too, either their whole bodies or particular parts.
What could be more ridiculous than all this?
Indeed strangers on their first arrival in Egypt 80
before the vanity of the land has gained a lodge-
ment in their minds are like to die with laughing
at it, while anyone who knows the flavour of right
instruction, horrified at this veneration of things
so much the reverse of venerable, pities those
who render it and regards them with good reason
as more miserable than the creatures they honour,
as men with souls transformed into the nature of
those creatures, so that as they pass before him,
they seem beasts in human shape. So 81
then He gave no place in His sacred code of laws to
all such setting up of other gods, and called upon
men to honour Him that truly is, not because He
needed that honour should be paid to Him, for He
that is all-sufficient to Himself needs nothing else,
but because He wished to lead the human race,
wandering in pathless wilds, to the road from which
none can stray, so that following nature they might
win the best of goals, knowledge of Him that truly
1s, Who is the primal and most perfect good, from

47

PHILO

πηγῆς ἄρδεται τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ ἐπὶ
μέρους ἀγαθά.

82 XVIT. Διειλεγμένοι καὶ περὶ τῆς ΓΝ παρ-
αἰνέσεως ὅσα οἷόν τε ἦν, τὴν ἑπομένην κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς
ἀκριβώσωμεν' ἔστι δὲ μὴ λαμβάνειν ὄνομα θεοῦ
ἐπὶ ματαίῳ. τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς τάξεως γνώριμα τοῖς
τὴν διάνοιαν ὀξυδορκοῦσιν: ὄνομα γὰρ ἀεὶ δεύτερον
ὑποκειμένου πράγματος, σκιᾷ παραπλήσιον, ἣ παρ-

88 ἔπεται σώματι. προειπὼν οὖν περὶ τῆς ὑπάρξεως
καὶ τιμῆς τοῦ ἀεὶ ὑπάρχοντος, ἑπομένως τῷ τῆς
ἀκολουθίας εἱρμῷ τὰ πρέποντα καὶ περὶ τῆς
κλήσεως εὐθὺς παρήγγειλε: πολύτροποι γὰρ καὶ
πολυειδεῖς αἷ περὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος τῶν ἀνθρώπων

84 ἁμαρτίαι. κάλλιστον δὴ καὶ βιωφελέ-
στατον καὶ ἁρμόττον λογικῇ φύσει τὸ ἀνώμοτον,

[196] οὕτως | ἀληθεύειν ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστου δεδιδαγμένῃ, ὡς
τοὺς λόγους ὅρκους εἶναι νομίζεσθαι. δεύτερος
δέ, φασί, πλοῦς τὸ εὐορκεῖν: ἤδη γὰρ ὅ γε ὀμνὺς

A io A
85 εἰς ἀπιστίαν ὑπονοεῖται. μελλητὴς οὖν ἔστω καὶ
VA 4 3 aA 4 3
βραδύς, εἴ πως ἐνδέχοιτο ταῖς ὑπερθέσεσιν ἀπ-
3 / > /
σασθαι τὸν ὅρκον' εἰ δέ τις ἀνάγκη

βιάζοιτο, περισκεπτέον οὐ παρέργως ἕκαστα τῶν
A > \ “A

ἐμφερομένων: TO yap πρᾶγμα ov μικρόν, εἰ Kal TH
A / / 3 A \

86 ἔθει καταφρονεῖται. μαρτυρία yap ἐστι θεοῦ περὶ
/ \

πραγμάτων ἀμφισβητουμένων ὅρκος" μάρτυρα δὲ

aA > A 4 Ἁ > ’ 3 ’ὔ 3

καλεῖν ἐπὶ ψεύδει θεὸν ἀνοσιώτατον. ἴθι γάρ, εἰ
βούλ Ὁ λόγῳ διάκυψον εἰς τὴν τοῦ μέλλοντο

οὔλει, τῷ λόγῳ διάκυψον εἰς τὴ μ ς
3 ’ ’ > AN ’ / \. 3 \ 3

ὀμνύναι διάνοιαν ἐπὶ ψεύδει" θεάσῃ γὰρ αὐτὴν οὐκ

@ See note on De Som. i. 44.
48

THE DECALOGUE, 81-86

Whom as from a fountain is showered the water of
each particular good upon the world and them that
dwell therein.

XVII. We have now discussed as fully as possible 82
the second commandment. Let us proceed to
examine carefully the next in order, not to take God's
name in vain. Now the reason for the position of this
commandment in the list will be understood by those
who have clear-sighted minds, for the name always
stands second to the thing which it represents as the
shadow which follows the body. So after speaking 83
first about the existence of the Ever-existent and
the honour due to Him as such, He follows it at once
in orderly sequence by giving a commandment on
the proper use of His title, for the errors of men in
this part of their duty are manifold and multiform.

To swear not at all is the best course 84
and most profitable to life, well suited to a rational
nature which has been taught to speak the truth so
well on each occasion that its words are regarded
as oaths; to swear truly is only, as people say,

a “second-best voyage, 5 for the mere fact of his
swearing casts suspicion on the trustworthiness of
the man. Let him, then, lag and linger in the hope g5
that by repeated postponement he may avoid the
oath altogether. But, if necessity be too
strong for him, he must consider in no careless fashion
all that an oath involves, for that is no small thing,
though custom makes light of it. For an oath is an 86
appeal to God as a witness on matters in dispute,
and to call Him as witness to a lie is the height of
profanity. Be pleased, I beg you, to take a look
with the aid of your reason into the mind of the in-
tending perjurer. You will see there a mind not at

VOL. VII E 49

87

88

PHILO

ἠρεμοῦσαν, ἀλλὰ θορύβου καὶ ταραχῆς μεστήν,
κατηγορουμένην καὶ πάσας ὕβρεις καὶ βλασφημίας
ὑπομένουσαν. 6 γὰρ ἑκάστῃ ψυχῇ συμπεφυκὼς
καὶ συνοικῶν ἔλεγχος, οὐδὲν εἰωθὼς παραδέχεσθαι
τῶν ὑπαιτίων, μισοπονήρῳ καὶ φιλαρέτῳ χρώ-
μενος. ἀεὶ τῇ φύσει, κατήγορος ὁμοῦ καὶ δικαστὴς
ὁ αὐτὸς ὦν, διακινηθεὶς ὡς μὲν κατήγορος αἰτιᾶται,
κατηγορεῖ, δυσωπεῖ, πάλιν δ᾽ ὡς δικαστὴς διδάσκει,
νουθετεῖ, παραινεῖ μεταβάλλεσθαι: κἂν μὲν ἰσχύσῃ
πεῖσαι, γεγηθὼς καταλλάττεται, μ μὴ δυνηθεὶς δὲ
ἀσπονδεὶ πολεμεῖ μήτε μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν μήτε νύκτωρ
ἀφιστάμενος, ἀλλὰ κεντῶν καὶ τιτρώσκων ἀνίατα,
μέχρις ἂν τὴν ἀθλίαν καὶ ἐπάρατον ζωὴν ἀπορρήξῃ.

XVIII. τί λέγεις, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν πρὸς τὸν
ἐπίορκον, τολμήσεις. τινὶ τῶν σεαυτοῦ γνωρίμων
φάναι προσελθών" ὦ οὗτος, ἃ μήτ᾽ εἶδες μήτ᾽
ἤκουσας, ὡς ἰδών, ὡς ἀκούσας, ὡς παρηκολουθηκὼς
ἅπασιν, ἀφικόμενός μοι μαρτύρησον; ἐγὼ μέν
ye’ οὐκ οἶμαι: μανίας yap ἀθεραπεύτου τὸ ἔργον.

89 ἐπεὶ τίσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς νήφων καὶ ἐν σεαυτῷ δοκῶν

εἶναι προσιδὼν τὸν φίλον ἐρεῖς" διὰ τὴν ἑταιρίαν
ἀδικοπράγει, παρανόμει, συνασέβει μοι; δῆλον γὰρ
ὡς, εἰ ταῦτ᾽ ἀκούσαι, πολλὰ χαίρειν φράσας
ἑταιρίᾳ τῇ νομιζομένῃ καὶ κακίσας αὑτόν, ὅτι τὴν
ἀρχὴν ἀνδρὶ τοιούτῳ φιλίας ἐκοινώνησεν, ἀπο-
πηδήσεται καθάπερ ἀπὸ θηρὸς ἀγριαίνοντος καὶ

90 λελυττηκότος. εἶτα, πρὸς ἃ μηδὲ φίλον ἄγειν

\ “-- “A
τολμήσεις, ἐπὶ ταῦτα θεὸν μάρτυρα καλῶν οὐκ
3 ~ \ 4 \ e “--
ἐρυθριᾷς, τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἡγεμόνα τοῦ κόσμου;

1 See App. p. 611.

@ For this double function of “ Conviction ᾽᾽ or the “ Inward
Monitor” cf. Quod Deus 135 ff.

50

THE DECALOGUE, 86-90

peace but full of uproar and confusion, labouring
under accusation, suffering all manner of insult and
reviling. For every soul has for its birth-fellow 87
and house-mate a monitor? whose way is to admit
nothing that calls for censure, whose nature is ever to
hate evil and love virtue, who is its accuser and its
judge in one. If he be once roused as accuser he
censures, accuses and puts the soul to shame, and
again as judge, he instructs, admonishes and exhorts

it to change its ways. And if he has the strength
to persuade it, he rejoices and makes peace. But
if he cannot, he makes war to the bitter end, never
leaving it alone by day or night, but plying it with
stabs and deadly wounds until he breaks the thread of
its miserable and ill-starred life. XVIII. How 88
now! I would say to the perjurer, will you dare
to accost any of your acquaintance and say, ‘‘ Come,
sir, and testify for me that you have seen and heard
and been in touch throughout with things which you
did not see nor hear.” My own belief is that you
would not, for it would be the act of a hopeless lunatic.

If you are sober and to all appearance in your right 89
mind, how could you have the face to say to your
friend, ‘‘ For the sake of our comradeship, work
iniquity, transgress the law, join me in impiety’? |
Clearly if he hears such words, he will turn his back
upon his supposed comradeship, and reproaching
himself that there should ever have been the tie of
friendship between him and such a person, rush away
from him as from a savage and maddened beast.
Can it be, then, that on a matter on which you would 90
not dare to cite even a friend you do not blush to call
God to witness, God the Father and Ruler of the

51

[196

]
91

PHILO

4 9 ’ Ὁ 4 > ec A \ 4
πότερον ἐπιστάμενος, ὅτι πάνθ᾽ ὁρᾷ Kal πάντων
3 ~ ~ ᾿ Ss “~
ἀκούει, ἣ τοῦτ᾽ ἀγνοῶν; | εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀγνοῶν,
10 ’ > \ δὲ Ul LO 4, 10 4 ΒΕ
ἀθεός τις εἶ, πηγὴ δὲ πάντων ἀδικημάτων ἀθεότης

\ “A a
πρὸς δὲ τῷ ἀθέῳ καὶ KaTaoTpaTnyels TOV ὅρκον,
> A
ὀμνὺς κατὰ τοῦ μὴ προσέχοντος ὡς ἐπιμελουμένου
τῶν ἀνθρωπείων πραγμάτων: εἰ δ᾽ ὅτι προνοεῖ
σαφῶς οἶδας, ὑπερβολὴν ἀσεβείας οὐκ ἀπολέλοιπας
λέγων, εἰ καὶ μὴ στόματι καὶ γλώττῃ, τῷ γοῦν
συνειδότι πρὸς θεόν: τὰ ψευδῆ μοι μαρτύρει, συγ-
κακούργει, συρρᾳδιούργει" μία μοι τοῦ παρ᾽ ἀνθρώ-

ὃ A 2r \ A λύ θ 4 A
ποις εὐδοκιμεῖν ἐλπὶς TO παρακαλύψασθαί σε τὴν
ἀλήθειαν: ὑπὲρ ἑτέρου πονηρὸς γενοῦ, ὑπὲρ τοῦ

’ lo
χείρονος ὁ κρείττων, ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπου καὶ ταῦτα
“A 4
μοχθηροῦ θεὸς 6 πάντων ἄριστος.

92 XIX. εἰσὶ δ᾽ of μηδὲ κερδαίνειν τι μέλλοντες ἔθει

πονηρῷ κατακόρως καὶ ἀνεξετάστως ὀμνύουσιν ἐπὶ
τοῖς τυχοῦσιν, οὐδενὸς ἀμφισβητουμένου τὸ παρά-
παν, τὰ κενὰ τῶν' ἐν τῷ λόγῳ προσαναπληροῦντες
ὅρκοις, ὡς οὐκ ἄμεινον ὃν ἀποκοπὴν ῥημάτων
~ \ \ 3 4 e ~ “A 4
μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀφωνίαν ὑποστῆναι παντελῆ" φύεται

93 γὰρ ἐκ πολυορκίας ψευδορκία καὶ ἀσέβεια. διὸ

\ \ 4 > 4 4 93 9 ~ 3
χρὴ τὸν μέλλοντα ὀμνύναι πάντ᾽ ἐπιμελῶς ἐξ-
’ aA “- >
ητακέναι Kal σφόδρα περιττῶς, TO πρᾶγμα, εἰ
εὐμέγεθες καὶ εἰ γέγονεν ὄντως καὶ εἰ πραχθὲν
κατείληφε παγίως, ἑαυτόν, εἰ καθαρεύει ψυχὴν καὶ
σῶμα καὶ γλῶτταν, τὴν μὲν παρανομίας, τὸ δὲ
/ \ δὲ λ ΑΝ ον 9 \ wd ὃ 9
μιασμάτων, τὴν δὲ βλασφημιῶν: οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον, δι
1 So Cohn by a later correction for ms. τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν. See

App. p. 611. ᾿

52

q

THE DECALOGUE, 90-98

world? Do you do so with the knowledge that He
sees and hears all things or in ignorance of this?
If in ignorance, you are an atheist, and atheism is 91
the source of all iniquities, and in addition to your
atheism you cut the ground from under the oath,
since in swearing by God you attribute a care for
human affairs to one who in your view has no regard
for them. But if you are convinced of His provi-
dence as a certainty, there is no further height of
impiety which remains for you to reach when you say
to God, if not with your mouth and tongue, at any
rate with your conscience, “‘ Witness to a falsehood
for me, share my evil-doing and my knavery. The
one hope I have of maintaining my good name with
men is that Thou shouldest disguise the truth. Be
wicked for the sake of another, the superior for the
sake of the inferior, the Divine, the best of all, for a
man, and a bad man to boot.” .
XIX. There are some who without even any gain in 92
prospect have an evil habit of swearing incessantly
and thoughtlessly about ordinary matters where there
is nothing at all in dispute, filling up the gaps in
their talk with oaths, forgetting that it were better to
submit to have their words cut short or rather to be
silenced altogether, for from much swearing springs
false swearing and impiety. Therefore one who is 93
about to take an oath should have made a careful
and most punctilious examination, first of the matter
in question, whether it is of sufficient importance,
whether it has actually happened, and whether he has
a sound apprehension of the facts; secondly, of
himself, whether his soul is pure from lawlessness, his
body from pollution, his tongue from evil-speaking,
for it would be sacrilege to employ the mouth by

53

PHILO

οὗ στόματος TO ἱερώτατον ὄνομα προφέρεται τις,

94 διὰ τούτου φθέγγεσθαί τι τῶν αἰσχρῶν. ἐρευνάτω
δὲ καὶ τόπον καὶ καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον" οἷδα γὰρ οἶδά
τινας ἐν βεβήλοις καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις χωρίοις, ἐν οἷς
οὔτε πατρὸς οὔτε μητρὸς ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τῶν ὀθνείων
πρεσβύτου τινὸς εὖ βεβιωκότος ἄξιον μεμνῆσθαι,

ιομνυμένους καὶ ὅλας ῥήσεις ὅρκων συνείροντας,
τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ πολυωνύμῳ καταχρησαμένους ὀνόματι

95 ἔνθα μὴ δεῖ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν. ὁ δὲ τῶν λεχθέντων
ὀλιγώρως ἔχων ἴστω τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μιαρὸς καὶ
ἀκάθαρτος ὦν, εἶθ᾽ ὡς αἰεὶ at μέγισται τῶν
τιμωριῶν ἐφεδρεύουσιν αὐτῷ, τῆς ἐφόρου τῶν
ἀνθρωπείων δίκης ἀτρέπτως καὶ ἀπαρηγορήτως
ἐπὶ τοῖς οὕτω μεγάλοις ἀδικήμασιν ἐχούσης, ἥτις,
ὅταν μὴ παραχρῆμα κολάζειν ἀξιοῖ, ἐπὶ πολλῷ

[197] δανείζειν ἐ ἔοικε τὰς τιμωρίας, | as, ὅταν ἦ καιρός,
ἀναπράττει μετὰ τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος.

96 XX. Τέταρτόν ἐστι παράγγελμα τὸ περὶ τῆς
ἱερᾶς ἑβδόμης, iv εὐαγῶς καὶ ὁσίως ἄγηται.
ταύτην ἔνιαι μὲν τῶν πόλεων ἑορτάζουσιν ἅπαξ τοῦ
μηνὸς ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ σελήνην" νουμηνίας διαριθμού-
μεναι, τὸ δὲ ᾿Ιουδαίων ἔθνος συνεχῶς ζἡμέραςΣ ἐξ

97 διαλείποντες αἰεί. λόγος δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀναγραφεὶς ἐν
τοῖς κατὰ τὴν κοσμοποιίαν, περιέχων αἰτίαν
ἀναγκαίαν" ἐν γὰρ ἕξ ἡμέραις φησὶ κτισθῆναι τὸν
κόσμον, τῇ δ᾽ ἑβδόμῃ παυσάμενον τῶν ἔργων τὸν

98 θεὸν ἄρξασθ αι τὰ γεγονότα καλῶς θεωρεῖν. ἐκέ-
λευσεν οὖν καὶ τοὺς μέλλοντας ἐν ταύτῃ ζῆν τῇ

πολιτείᾳ καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ κατὰ τοῦθ᾽

1 Other mss. θεὸν, which Cohn prints, though later he
declared for σελήνην, which appears in R. See App. p. 611.

@ See App. p. 611.
54

THE DECALOGUE, 93-98

which one pronounces the holiest of all names,

to utter any words of shame. And let him seek for a 94

suitable time and place. For I know full well that
there are persons who, in profane and impure places
where it would not be fitting to mention either a
father or mother or even any good-living elder out-
side his family, swear at length and make whole
speeches consisting of a string of oaths and thus, by
their misuse of the many forms of the divine name
in places where they ought not to do so, show their
impiety.. Anyone who treats what I have said with
contempt may rest assured, first, that he is polluted
and unclean, secondly, that the heaviest punishments
are waiting to fall upon him. For justice, who
surveys human affairs, is inflexible and implacable
towards such grave misdeeds, and when she thinks
well to refrain from immediate chastisement, be
sure that she does but put out her penalties to loan
at high interest, only to exact them when the time
comes to the common benefit of all.

XX. The fourth commandment deals with the
sacred seventh day, that it should be observed in a
reverent and religious manner. While some states
celebrate this day as a feast once a month,? reckoning
it from the commencement as shown by the moon,
the Jewish nation never ceases to do so at continuous

95

96

intervals with six days between each. There is an 97

account recorded in the story of the Creation con-
taining a cogent reason for this: we are told that the
world was made in six days and that on the seventh
God ceased from His works and began to contem-
plate what had been so well created, and therefore
He bade those who should live as citizens under this
world-order follow God in this as in other matters.

55

98

99

100

101

PHILO

ἕπεσθαι θεῷ, πρὸς μὲν ἔργα τρεπομένους ἐφ᾽
ἡμέρας ἕξ, ἀνέχοντας δὲ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ φιλο-
σοφοῦντας καὶ θεωρίαις μὲν τῶν τῆς φύσεως σχο-
λάζοντας, ἐπισκοποῦντας δὲ καὶ εἴ τι μὴ καθαρῶς
ἐν ταῖς προτέραις ἐπράχθη, “λόγον καὶ εὐθύνας ὧν
εἷπον ἢ ἔδρασαν παρ᾽ ἑαυτῶν λαμβάνοντας ἐν τῷ
τῆς ψυχῆς βουλευτηρίῳ, συνεδρευόντων καὶ συν-
εξεταζόντων τῶν νόμων εἴς τε τὴν τῶν παρ-
οραθέντων κατόρθωσιν καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μηδὲν
αὖθις ἐξαμαρτάνειν προφυλακήν. ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν θεὸς
ἅπαξ κατεχρήσατο ταῖς ἐξ ἡμέραις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ
κόσμου τελείωσιν μήκους χρόνων οὐ προσδεόμενος"
ἀνθρώπων δ᾽ ἕκαστος. ἅτε θνητῆς φύσεως μετέχων
καὶ μυρίων ἐνδεὴς ὧν πρὸς τὰς ἀναγκαίας τοῦ
βίου χρείας ὀφείλει μὴ κατοκνεῖν ἐκπορίζειν τὰ
ἐπιτήδεια μέχρι τελευτῆς τοῦ βίου διαναπαυόμενος
τὰς ἱερὰς ἑβδομάδας. dp’ οὐ παγκάλη παραίνεσις
καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἱκανωτάτη προτρέψασθαι
καὶ διαφερόντως εἰς εὐσέβειαν; “᾿ ἕπου ᾿᾿ φησίν
“αἰεὶ θεῷ: παράδειγμα προθεσμίας ἔστω σοι
πράξεων ἕν ἑξαήμερον' αὐταρκέστατον, ἐν ᾧ τὸν
κόσμον ἐδημιούργει:" παράδειγμα καὶ τοῦ δεῖν
φιλοσοφεῖν ἡ ἑβδόμη, καθ᾽ ἣν ἐπιδεῖν λέγεται ἃ
εἰργάσατο, ὅπως καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιθεωρῇς τὰ φύσεως
καὶ τὰ ἴδια ὅσα συντείνει πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν.᾽᾽

τοιοῦτον οὖν ἀρχέτυπον τῶν ἀρίστων βίων, πρα-
κτικοῦ τε καὶ θεωρητικοῦ, μὴ παρέλθωμεν, ἀλλ᾽
αἰεὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ βλέποντες ἐναργεῖς εἰκόνας καὶ
τόπους ταῖς ἑαυτῶν διανοίαις ἐγχαράττωμεν ἐξ-
ομοιοῦντες θνητὴν φύσιν ὡς ἔνεστιν ἀθανάτῳ κατὰ

1 mss. ἕν ἑἐξάμετρον or ἑξὰς μέτρον.

56

THE DECALOGUE, 98-101

So He commanded that they should apply themselves
to work for six days but rest on the seventh and turn
to the study of wisdom, and that while they thus had
leisure for the contemplation of the truths of nature
they should also consider whether any offence against
purity had been committed in the preceding days,
and exact from themselves in the council-chamber
of the soul, with the laws as their fellow-assessors
and fellow-examiners, a strict account of what they
had said or done in order to correct what had been
neglected and to take precaution against repetition

of any sin. But while God once for all made a final 99

use of six days for the completion of the world and
had no further need of time-periods, every man being
a partaker of mortal nature and needing a vast
multitude of things to supply the necessaries of life
ought never to the end of his life to slacken in pro-
viding what he requires, but should rest on the sacred
seventh days. Have we not here a most admirable
injunction full of power to urge us to every virtue
and piety most of all? “ Always follow God,’ it says,
“find in that single six-day period in which, all-suffi-
cient for His purpose, He created the world, a pattern
of the time set apart to thee for activity. Tind, too,
in the seventh day the pattern of thy duty to study
wisdom, that day in which we are told that He sur-
veyed what He had wrought, and so learn to meditate
thyself on the lessons of nature and all that in thy
own life makes for happiness.’’ Let us not then
neglect this great archetype of the two best lives, the
practical and the contemplative, but with that pattern
ever before our eyes engrave in our hearts the clear
image and stamp of them both, so making mortal
nature, as far as may be, like the immortal by saying

δ᾽

100

101

PHILO

[198] τὸ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν ἃ χρή. πῶς δὲ | λέγεται

102

103

ἐν ἐξ ἡ ἡμέραις γεγενῆσθαι τὸν κόσμον ὑπὸ θεοῦ τοῦ
μηδὲ “χρόνων εἰς τὸ ποιεῖν _Seopevon, μεμήνυται
διὰ τῶν ἀλληγορηθέντων € ἐν ἑτέροις.

ΧΧΙ, Τὴν μέντοι προνομίαν, ἧς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν
ἑβδομὰς ἠξίωται, δηλοῦσιν οἱ περὶ τὰ μαθήματα
ιατρίψαντες, ἐπιμελῶς πάνυ καὶ πεφροντισμένως
αὐτὴν ἐξιχνεύσαντες. ἧδε γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἐν ἀριθμοῖς
παρθένος, ἡ ἀμήτωρ φύσις, ἡ. μονάδος οἰκειοτάτη
καὶ ἀρχῆς, ἡ ἰδέα τῶν πλανήτων, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῆς
ἀπλανοῦς odaipas μονάς" ἐκ γὰρ μονάδος καὶ
ἑβδομάδος οὐρανὸς 6 ἀσώματος, τὸ παράδειγμα
τοῦ ὁρατοῦ. πέπηγε δ᾽ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἔκ τε
τῆς ἀμερίστου φύσεως καὶ τῆς μεριστῆς" ἡ μὲν
οὖν ἀμέριστος τὴν πρώτην καὶ ἀνωτάτω καὶ
ἀπλανῆ περιφορὰν εἴληχεν, ἣ ἣν μονὰς ἐπισκοπεῖ, ἡ
δὲ μεριστὴ τὴν καὶ υνάμει καὶ τάξει δευτέραν, ἧς
ἐπιτροπεύει ἑβδομάς, ἥτις ἑξαχῇ διανεμηθεῖσα
τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους ἑπτὰ πλάνητας εἰργάσατο"

\
104 οὐκ ἐπειδὴ πεπλάνηταί TL τῶν κατὰ TOV οὐρανὸν

’ὔ ld \ 4 4
θείας καὶ μακαρίας καὶ εὐδαίμονος φύσεως μετ-
4 @ A \ > 4 Ἁ
εσχηκότων, οἷς πᾶσι τὸ ἀπλανὲς οἰκειότατον---τὴν
“A 4 4 /
γοῦν ἐν ὁμοίῳ ταυτότητα σῴζοντα δολιχεύει τὸν

α 6. ἴῃ Leg. All. i. 2-4: “ Moses wished to exhibit things
mortal and immortal as having been formed in a way corres-
ponding to their proper numbers ”’ (ὃ 4). The reason why six
is the appropriate number for mortal things, as seven for
immortal, is given just before.

> For the Pythagorean origin of these epithets see note on
Mos. ii. 210.

¢ Or “ archetype.”

@ For the mystical identity of One and Seven cf. De Post. 64,
Quod Deus 11, and § 159 below.

¢ This whole section, like its parallel, De Cher. 22, is based

58

THE DECALOGUE, 101-104

and doing what we ought. But in what sense the
world is said to have been created by God in six days
when no time-period of any kind was needed by Him
for his work has been explained elsewhere in our
allegorical expositions.@

XXI. As for the number seven, the precedence
awarded to it among all that exists is explained by
the students of mathematics, who have investigated
it with the utmost care and consideration. It is the
virgin ὃ among the numbers, the essentially mother-
less, the closest bound to the initial Unit, the ‘‘idea’’ ¢
of the planets, just as the unit is of the sphere of the
fixed stars, for from the Unit and Seven springs the
incorporeal heaven which is the pattern of the visible.¢

Now the substance from which the
heaven has been framed is partly undivided and
partly divided. To the undivided belongs the primal,
highest and undeviating revolution presided over by
the unit ; to the divided another revolution, second-
ary both in value and order, under the governance
of Seven, and this by a sixfold partition has produced
the seven so-called planets, or wanderers.* Not that
any of the occupants of heaven wander, for sharing
as they do in a blessed and divine and happy nature,
they are all intrinsically free from any such tendency.
In fact they preserve their uniformity unbroken and

upon Plato, T¢maeus 36 c-p, where the heaven is conceived of
as consisting of two revolving circles, the exterior, the sphere
of the fixed stars, and the interior subdivided into seven con-
centric circles, one for each planet. ‘“* The exterior motion he
called the motion of the Same (ταὐτόν, cf. Philo’s ταυτότης),
the interior the motion of the Other” (so in De Cher.). The
terms for ‘‘ undivided” and “‘he divided” are doytoros and
σχίσας, but Plato has ἀμέριστος and μεριστὴ οὐσία a little
before (35 a).

59

102

103

104

PHILO

IA U 9 4 A Α 4
αἰῶνα μηδεμίαν ἐνδεχόμενα τροπὴν καὶ μεταβολήν
> “- “A
—, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι περιπολοῦνται ὑπεναντίως TH ἀμερίστῳ
A > 4 ’ 4 > 4 9
καὶ ἐξωτάτω σφαίρᾳ, πλάνητες ὠνομάσθησαν οὐ
’
κυρίως ὑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων εἰκαιοτέρων, ot τὴν ἰδίαν
πλάνην τοῖς οὐρανίοις ἐπεφήμισαν, ἃ τὴν τοῦ θείου
105 στρατοπέδου τάξιν οὐδέποτε λείπει. διὰ μὲν δὴ
lo A ” 4 4 e e Ul > 3
ταῦτα καὶ ἔτι πλείω τετίμηται ἡ ἕβδομάς: ἐπ
A , 4 9 A
οὐδενὶ δ᾽ οὕτω προνομίας ἔτυχεν ἢ TH μάλιστα TOV
A \ ’ ~ Ὁ 9 ’ 3
ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τῶν ὅλων ἐμφαίνεσθαι δι
αὐτῆς" ὡς γὰρ διὰ κατόπτρου φαντασιοῦται ὁ νοῦς
θεὸν δρῶντα καὶ κοσμοποιοῦντα καὶ τῶν ὅλων
ἐπιτροπεύοντα.
A A A \ ~ e 4
106 XXII. Mera δὲ τὰ περὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης παραγγέλ-
, ’ \ \ . on
λει πέμπτον παράγγελμα TO περὶ γονέων τιμῆς
A \ A 4 ~ A
τάξιν αὐτῷ δοὺς τὴν μεθόριον τῶν δυοῖν mevTddwv>
A \ 5) “ 4 > Ὁ 1 ε
τελευταῖον γὰρ ὃν τῆς προτέρας, ἐν ἧ τὰ ἱερώτατα
MPOOTATTETAL, συνάπτει καὶ τῇ δευτέρᾳ περιεχούσῃ
\ \ > 4 4 3 > e εν
107 τὰ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους δίκαια. αἴτιον δ᾽ ὡς οἶμαι
4 ~ 4 e 4 > 4 \ “.
τόδε: τῶν γονέων ἡ φύσις ἀθανάτου καὶ θνητῆς
4 A
οὐσίας ἔοικεν εἶναι μεθόριος, θνητῆς μὲν διὰ τὴν
\ > 4 A A v “A 4
[199] πρὸς | ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα συγγένειαν
“- > + 9 4
κατὰ TO TOU σώματος ἐπίκηρον, ἀθανάτου δὲ διὰ
τὴν τοῦ γεννᾶν πρὸς θεὸν τὸν γεννητὴν τῶν ὅλων
108 ἐξομοίωσιν. ἤδη μὲν οὖν τινες τῇ ἑτέρᾳ
μερίδι προσκληρώσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἔδοξαν τῆς ἑτέρας
a 3 A 9 4 \
ὀλιγωρεῖν: ἄκρατον yap ἐμφορησάμενοι τὸν εὖὐ-
’ 4 \ 4 4 a~ +
σεβείας πόθον, πολλὰ χαίρειν φράσαντες ταῖς ἄλλαις

1 So Cohn for Ms. πρὸς τὰ πέντε. See App. pp. 611-612.
60

THE DECALOGUE, 104-108

run their round to and fro for all eternity admitting
no swerving or alteration. It is because their course
is contrary to that of the undivided and outermost
sphere that the planets gained their name which
was improperly applied to them by the more thought-
less people, who credited with their own wanderings
the heavenly bodies which never leave their posts
in the divine camp.* For these reasons and many
others beside Seven is held in honour. But nothing
so much assures its predominance as that through it
is best given the revelation of the Father and Maker
of all, for in it, as in a mirror, the mind has a
vision of God as acting and creating the world and
controlling all that is.

XXII. After dealing with the seventh day, He
gives the fifth commandment on the honour due to
parents. This commandment He placed on the
border-line between the two sets of five; it is the last
of the first set in which the most sacred injunctions
are given and it adjoins the second set which contains
the duties of man to man. The reason I consider is
this : we see that parents by their nature stand on
the border-line between the mortal and the immortal
side of existence, the mortal because of their kinship
with men and other animals through the perishable-
ness of the body ; the immortal because the act of
generation assimilates them to God, the generator
of the All. Now we have known some
who associate themselves with one of the two sides
and are seen to neglect the other. They have drunk
of the unmixed wine of pious aspirations and turning
their backs upon all other concerns devoted their

α Cf. Plato, Laws 821 c-p, where the name of “‘ wanderers”
is said to be a blasphemy.

61

105

106

107

108

PHILO

/ ω 9. » \ 2 κα / a
πραγματείαις ὅλον ἀνέθεσαν Tov οἰκεῖον βίον θερα-
109 πείᾳ θεοῦ. οἱ δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔξω τῶν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους
’
δικαιωμάτων ἀγαθὸν ὑποτοπήσαντες εἶναι μόνην
τὴν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ὁμιλίαν ἠσπάσαντο, τῶν τε
A \ A lon \
ἀγαθῶν τὴν χρῆσιν ἐξ ἴσου πᾶσι παρέχοντες διὰ
κοινωνίας ἵμερον καὶ τὰ δεινὰ κατὰ δύναμιν
9 ’ 9 “- 4 \ On
110 ἐπικουφίζειν ἀξιοῦντες. τούτους μὲν οὖν φιλ-
θ ’ A δὲ lA λ θ 4 > δί
ανθρώπους, τοὺς δὲ προτέρους φιλοθέους ἐνδίκως
aA 4 \
ἂν εἴποι Tis, ἡμιτελεῖς τὴν ἀρετήν: ὁλόκληροι γὰρ
e A 4.9
ot παρ᾽ ἀμφοτέροις εὐδοκιμοῦντες. ὅσοι δὲ μήτ
a 9 4
ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐξετάζονται, συνηδόμενοι
\ A A a A > 3"
μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς κοινοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, συναλγοῦντες δ᾽ ἐπὶ
a 9 3 ’
τοῖς ἐναντίοις, μήτ᾽ εὐσεβείας καὶ ὁσιότητος περι-
, , , n 3 ,
έχονται, μεταβεβληκέναι δόξαιεν ἂν εἰς θηρίων
a “A , A e
φύσιν: ὧν τῆς ἀγριότητος οἴσονται TA πρωτεῖα οἱ
A e 3 > \
γονέων ἀλογοῦντες, ἑκατέρας μερίδος ὄντες ἐχθροὶ
on δ \ aA
Kal τῆς πρὸς θεὸν καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους.
111 XXIII. ἐν δυσὶν οὖν δικαστηρίοις, ἃ δὴ μόνα ἐστὶν
A 4 \ ’ 4
ἐν TH φύσει, μὴ ἀγνοείτωσαν ἕαλωκότες, ἀσεβείας
μὲν ἐν τῷ θείῳ, διότι τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ
4 \ A
εἶναι παραγαγόντας Kal κατὰ τοῦτο μιμησαμένους
θεὸν οὐ περιέπουσι, μισανθρωπίας δ᾽ ἐν τῷ κατ᾽
’ Ss 4 ~
112 ἀνθρώπους. τινα γὰρ ἕτερον εὖ ποιησουσιν οἱ τῶν
συγγενεστάτων καὶ τὰς μεγίστας παρασχομένων
Α > lo = 3 3 e \ 90.9
δωρεὰς ὀλιγωροῦντες, ὧν ἔνιαι δι᾽ ὑπερβολὴν οὐδ
ἀμοιβὰς ἐνδέχονται; πῶς γὰρ ἂν ὁ γεννηθεὶς
“- 4 “- ᾿
ἀντιγεννῆσαι δύναιτο τοὺς σπείραντας, κλῆρον
A 4 A
ἐξαίρετον τῆς φύσεως χαρισαμένης πρὸς παῖδας
A 3 aA
γονεῦσιν εἰς ἀντίδοσιν ἐλθεῖν οὐ δυνάμενον; ὅθεν
69

THE DECALOGUE, 109-112

personal life wholly to the service of God. Others 109
conceiving the idea that there is no good outside
doing justice to men have no heart for anything but
companionship with men. In their desire for fellow-
ship they supply the good things of life in equal
- measure to all for their use, and deem it their duty to
alleviate by anything in their power the dreaded
hardships. These may be justly called lovers of 110
men, the former sort lovers of God. Both come
but halfway in virtue; they only have it whole
who win honour in both departments. But all
who neither take their fit place in dealings with
men by sharing the joy of others at the common
good and their grief at the reverse, nor cling to
piety and holiness, would seem to have been trans-
formed into the nature of wild beasts. In such
bestial savagery the first place will be taken by those
who disregard parents and are therefore the foes of
both sides of the law, the godward and the manward.
XXIII. Let them not then fail to understand that 111
in the two courts, the only courts which nature has,
they stand convicted ; in the divine court, of impiety
because they do not show due respect to those who
brought them forth from non-existence to existence
and in this were imitators of God; in the human court,
of inhumanity. For to whom else will they show 112
kindness if they despise the closest of their kinsfolk
who have bestowed upon them the greatest boons,
some of them far exceeding any possibility of re-
payment? For how could the begotten beget in his
turn those whose seed he is, since nature has bestowed
on parents in relation to their children an estate of
a special kind which cannot be subject to the law

63

113

[200]

PHILO

καὶ σφόδρα προσῆκεν ἀγανακτεῖν, εἰ μὴ πάντα
ἔχοντες ἀντιχαρίζεσθαι μηδὲ τὰ κουφότατα ἐθε-
λήσουσιν. οἷς δεόντως ἂν εἴποιμι: τὰ
θηρία πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἡμεροῦσθαι δεῖ: καὶ πολ-
λάκις ἔγνων ἡμερωθέντας λέοντας, ἄρκτους, |
παρδάλεις, οὐ μόνον “πρὸς τοὺς τρέφοντας διὰ
τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις χάριν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς
τοὺς ἄλλους, ἕνεκά μοι δοκῶ τῆς πρὸς ἐκείνους
ὁμοιότητος: καλὸν γὰρ ἀεὶ τῷ κρείττονι τὸ

114 χεῖρον ἀκολουθεῖν διὰ βελτιώσεως ἐλπίδα. νυνὶ δ᾽

11ὅ

116

ἀναγκασθήσομαι τἀναντία λέγειν: μιμηταὶ θηρίων
ἐνίων, ἄνθρωποι, γίνεσθε. τοὺς ὠφεληκότας ἀντ-
ὠφελεῖν ἐκεῖνα οἷδε καὶ πεπαίδευται" κύνες οἰκουροὶ
προασπίζουσι καὶ προαποθνήσκουσι τῶν δεσποτῶν,
ὅταν κίνδυνός τις ἐξαπιναίως καταλάβῃ" τοὺς δ᾽
ἐν ταῖς ποίμναις φασὶ προαγωνιζομένους τῶν
θρεμμάτων ἄχρι νίκης ἢ θανάτου παραμένειν ὑπὲρ
τοῦ διατηρῆσαι τοὺς ἀγελάρχας ἀζημίους. εἶτ᾽
οὐκ αἰσχρῶν ἐστιν αἴσχιστον, ἐν χαρίτων ἀμοιβαῖς
ἄνθρωπον ἡττηθῆναι κυνός, τοῦ θηρίων θρασυτάτου
τὸ ἡμερώτατον ζῷον; ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὴ τοῖς
χερσαίοις ἀναδιδασκόμεθα, πρὸς τὴν πτηνὴν καὶ
ἀεροπόρον μετίωμεν φύσιν ἃ χρὴ παρ᾽ αὐτῆς
μαθησόμενοι. τῶν πε αργῶν οἱ μὲν γηραιοὶ κατα-
μένουσιν ἐν ταῖς νεοττιαῖς ἀδυνατοῦντες ἵπτασθαι,
οἱ δὲ τούτων παῖδες ὀλίγου δέω φάναι γῆν καὶ

1 mss. ἀνθρώπων.

¢ Clearly an allusion to the Attic law by which a citizen
nominated to perform a “‘leiturgia’’ might call upon a person

not so nominated whom he considered to be wealthier than

himself to exchange properties with him. Here, as often,
64

THE DECALOGUE, 112-116

of “exchange’’*? And therefore the greatest indigna-

tion is justified if children, because they are unable. |

to make a complete return, refuse to make even the
slightest. Properly,® I should say to them,
“beasts ought to become tame through association
with men.” Indeed I have often known lions and
bears and panthers become tame, not only with those
who feed them, in gratitude for receiving what they
require, but also with everybody else, presumably
because of the likeness to those who give them food.°
That is what should happen, for it is always good for
the inferior to follow the superior in hope of improve-
ment. But as it is I shall be forced ta say the opposite
of this, ““ You men will do well to take some beasts
for your models.’’ They have been trained to know
how to return benefit for benefit. Watch-dogs guard
and die for their masters when some danger suddenly
overtakes them. Sheep-dogs, they say, fight for their
charges and hold their ground till they conquer or
die, in order to keep the herdsmen unscathed. Is it
not, then, a very scandal of scandals that in returning
kindnesses a man should be worsted by a dog, the

113

jem

14

115

most civilized of living creatures by the most auda- |

cious of brutes ? But, if we cannot learn
from the land animals, let us turn for a lesson in
right conduct to the winged tribe that ranges the air.
Among the storks the old birds stay in the nests
when they are unable to fly, while their children fly,
I might almost say, over sea and land, gathering

Phila shews his knowledge of Attic law, as he found it in
Demosthenes.
ὃ The sense is “‘ the natural and proper thing is for beasts to
learn from men; in this case men have to learn from beasts.”’
¢ 2,6. these animals come to associate the human form with
kindness, 4 See App. p. 612.

VOL. VII F 65

jams

16

PHILO

> 4 > 4
θάλατταν ἐπιποτώμενοι πανταχόθεν ἐκπορίζουσι
aA “- 9 ’ “
117 τοῖς γονεῦσι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια: καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀξίως τῆς
AA 4 > A > 9 ’ ὃ λ ~ “-- 4
ἡλικίας ἠρεμοῦντες ev ἀφθονίᾳ διατελοῦσι TH πάσῃ
~ e > 4
τρυφῶντες, οἱ δὲ τὰς εἰς TOV πορισμὸν κακοπαθείας
> “A aA \ ~ A
ἐπελαφριζόμενοι τῷ εὐσεβεῖν Kal τῷ προσδοκᾶν
~ > 4
ἐν γήρᾳ τὰ αὐτὰ πείσεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκγόνων
aA > “ A
ἀναγκαῖον ὄφλημα ἀντεκτίνουσιν, ἐν καιρῷ Kal
’ 3 Α A > 4 Ὁ 3 > 4
λαβόντες αὐτὸ Kal ἀνταποδιδόντες, ὅτ᾽ οὐδέτεροι
τρέφειν αὑτοὺς δύνανται, παῖδες μὲν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς
aA ~ ~ ’ ,
γενέσεως, γονεῖς δ᾽ ἐπὶ τελευτῇ τοῦ βίου: ὅθεν
3 4 ~ ’ 4
αὐτοδιδάκτῳ TH φύσει νεοττοτροφηθέντες ynpo-
: - Ss » > A
118 τροφοῦσι χαίροντες. ἄρ᾽ οὐκ ἄξιον ἐπὶ
ld “- >
τούτοις ἀνθρώπους, ὅσοι γονέων ἀμελοῦσιν, ἐγ-
A e 4 > 4
καλύπτεσθαι Kai Kakilew ἑαυτούς, ὠλιγωρηκότας
@ “᾿ ᾽ὔ nv A ~ ” 9 A >
ὧν ἢ μόνων ἢ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀναγκαῖον ἦν
’ \ a 95 ᾽ 4 ~ “
πεφροντικέναι, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ od διδόντας μᾶλλον ἢ
3 / / ‘ ov ς , Δ ‘
ἀποδιδόντας; παίδων yap ἴδιον οὐδέν, ὃ μὴ
’ 3 ’ a“ 3 3 ’ καὶ A > »
γονέων ἐστίν, ἢ οἴκοθεν ἐπιδεδωκότων ἢ τὰς αἰτίας
“A / A
119 τῆς κτήσεως παρασχομένων. εὐσέβειαν δὲ καὶ
ὁσιότητα, τὰς ἀρετῶν ἡγεμονίδας, apd γ᾽ ἐντὸς
ὅρων ἔχουσι τῶν ψυχῶν; ὑὕὑπερορίους μὲν οὖν ἀπ-
’ A 4 ~ \ e 4
εληλάκασι καὶ πεφυγαδεύκασι: θεοῦ yap ὑπηρέται
e A
[201] πρὸς | τέκνων σπορὰν ot γονεῖς" ὁ δ᾽ ὑπηρέτην
4 \ ~
120 ἀτιμάζων συνατιμάζει καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα. τῶν δ᾽
εὐτολμοτέρων ἀποσεμνύνοντες τὸ γονέων ὄνομά
’ e Ν A A 4 > a
φασί τινες, ὡς ἄρα πατὴρ καὶ μήτηρ ἐμφανεῖς εἰσι
4 ~ a
θεοί, μιμούμενοι τὸν ἀγένητον ἐν τῷ ζῳοπλαστεῖν'

«8566 App. p. 612.
66

THE DECALOGUE, 116-120

from every quarter provision for the needs of their
parents ; and so while they in the inactivity justi-
fied by their age continue to enjoy all abundance
of luxury, the younger birds making light of the
hardships sustained in their quest for food, moved
by piety and the expectation that the same treatment
will be meted to them by their offspring, repay the
debt which they may not refuse—a debt both in-
curred and discharged at the proper time—namely
that in which one or other of the parties is unable
to maintain itself, the children in the first stage of
their existence, the parents at the end of their
lives. And thus without any teacher but their natural
instinct they gladly give to age the nurture which
fostered their youth. With this example
before them may not human beings, who take no
thought for their parents, deservedly hide their faces
for shame and revile themselves for their neglect of
those whose welfare should necessarily have been
their sole or their primary care, and that not so
much as givers as repayers of a due? For children
have nothing of their own which does not come from
their parents, either bestowed from their own re-
sources or acquired by means which originate from
them. Piety and religion are the queens among the
virtues. Do they dwell within the confines of such
souls as these ? No, they have driven them from the
realm and sent them into banishment. For parents
are the servants of God for the task of begetting
children, and he who dishonours the servant dis-
honours also the Lord. Some bolder spirits, glorify-
ing the name of parenthood, say that a father and a
mother are in fact gods revealed to sight who copy
the Uncreated in His work as the I'ramer of life. He,

67

118

119

120

PHILO

ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου θεόν, τοὺς δὲ μόνων

ὧν ἐγέννησαν. ᾿ἀμήχανον δ᾽ εὐσεβεῖσθαι τὸν

121

122

123

124

125

ἀόρατον ὑπὸ τῶν εἰς τοὺς sets Kal ἐγγὺς
ὄντας ἀσεβούντων.

XXIV. Τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ γονέων τιμῆς φιλο-
σοφήσας τέλος ἐπιτίθησι τῇ ἑτέρᾳ καὶ θειοτέρᾳ
πεντάδι. τὴν δ᾽ ἑτέραν ἀναγραψάμενος περιέχουσαν
ἀπαγορεύσεις τῶν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ μοιχείας
ἄρχεται, μέγιστον ἀδικημάτων τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι ὑπο-
λαβών. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ πηγὴν ἔχει φιληδονίαν,
ἣ καὶ τὰ σώματα θρύπτει τῶν ἐχόντων καὶ τοὺς
τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκλύει τόνους καὶ τὰς οὐσίας διαφθείρει
πάντα δίκην ἀσβέστου πυρὸς ὧν ἂν προσάψηται
καταφλέγουσα καὶ μηδὲν σῷον ἀπολείπουσα τῶν
κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον. ἔπειτ᾽ ἀναπείθει τὸν
μοιχὸν οὐκ ἀδικεῖν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ διδάσκειν
συναδικεῖν ἐν ἀκοινωνήτοις πράγμασι κοινωνίαν
τιθέμενον: οἴστρου γὰρ [τοῦ]; κατασχόντος, ἀ-
μήχανον λαβεῖν τέλος δι᾿ ἑνὸς μόνου τὰς ὀρέξεις,
ἀλλὰ δεῖ πάντως δύο κοινοπραγῆσαι, τὸν μὲν
ὑφηγητοῦ τὸν δὲ γνωρίμου τάξιν λαβόντα, “πρὸς
ἀκρασίας καὶ λαγνείας βεβαίωσιν, αἰσχίστων
κακῶν. οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτ᾽ ἔνεστιν εἰπεῖν, ὡς τὸ
σῶμα μόνον. διαφθείρεται τῆς ᾿μοιχευομένης γυ-
ναικός, ἀλλ᾽, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἡ ψυχὴ πρὸ
τοῦ σώματος εἰς ἀλλοτρίωσιν ἐθίζεται διδασκομένη
πάντα τρόπον ἀποστρέφεσθαι καὶ μισεῖν τὸν ἀνδρα.

καὶ ἧττον ἂν ἦν δεινόν, εἰ τὸ μῖσος

᾿ 39 ’ὔ 3 , \ \ 3 / ta |
ἐπεδείκνυτο ἐμφανές---τὰ yap ἐν πέριοῖτῳ paov

φυλάξασθαι----νυνὶ δὲ δυσυπονόητον καὶ δυσθήρατόν

1 Or, as Mangey, read τούτου.

68

THE DECALOGUE, 120-125
they say, is the God or Maker of the world, they of

those only whom they have begotten, and how can
reverence be rendered to the invisible God by those
who show irreverence to the gods who are near at
hand and seen by the eye?

XXIV. With these wise words on _ honouring
parents He closes the one set of five which is more
concerned with the divine. In committing to writing
the second set which contains the actions prohibited
by our duty to fellow-men, He begins with adultery,
holding this to be the greatest of crimes. For in the
first place it has its source in the love of pleasure
which enervates the bodies of those who entertain it,
relaxes the sinews of the soul and wastes away the
means of subsistence, consuming like an unquench-
able fire all that it touches and leaving nothing whole-
some in human life. Secondly, it persuades the
adulterer not merely to do the wrong but to teach
another to.share the wrong by setting up a partner-
ship in a situation where no true partnership is pos-
sible. For when the frenzy has got the mastery, the
appetites cannot possibly gain their end through one
agent only, but there must necessarily be two acting
in common, one taking the position of the teacher,
the other of the pupil, whose aim is to put on a firm
footing the vilest of sins, licentiousness and lewdness.
We cannot even say that it is only the body of the
adulteress which is corrupted, but the real truth is
that her soul rather than her body is habituated to
estrangement from the husband, taught as it is to
feel complete aversion and hatred for him.

121

122

123

124

And the matter would be less terrible if the hatred 125

were shown openly, since what is conspicuous is more
easily. guarded against, but in actual fact it easily

69

126

127

128
[209]

129

PHILO

ἐστι, πανούργοις τέχναις συσκιαζόμενον Kal τὴν
ἐναντίαν ἔστιν ὅτε τοῦ φιλεῖν δόξαν ἐμποιοῦν
γοητείαις τισὶ καὶ ἀπάταις. ἀναστάτους γε μὴν
τρεῖς ἀποδείκνυσιν' οἴκους, τόν τε τοῦ παρα-
σπονδουμένου ἀνδρός, ὃς τὰς ἐπὶ γάμοις εὐχὰς καὶ
τὰς ἐπὶ γνησίοις παισὶν ἐλπίδας περικόπτεται, καὶ
δύο δ᾽ ἑτέρους τόν τε τοῦ μοιχοῦ καὶ τὸν τῆς
γυναικός, καὶ γὰρ τούτων ἑκάτερος ὕβρεως καὶ
ἀτιμίας καὶ τῶν μεγίστων ὀνειδῶν ἀναπίμπλαται.
κἂν πολυάνθρωποι μὲν τύχωσιν αἱ συγγένειαι διὰ
τὰς ἐπιγαμίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλων πρὸς ἄλλους ἐπι-
μιξίας, ἅψεται καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἁπάσης ἐν κύκλῳ
βαδίζον τἀδίκημα. παγχάλεπόν γε μὴν.
| καὶ 6 τῶν τέκνων ἐπαμφοτερισμός- μὴ γὰρ
ἁγνευούσης γυναικός, ἀμφίδοξον καὶ ἄδηλον, τὰ
ἀποκυόμενα τίνος ἐστὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πατρός" εἶτα
λανθάνοντος τοῦ πράγματος, οἱ μοιχίδιοι τὴν τῶν
γνησίων παρασπασάμενοι τάξιν ἀλλοτρίαν γενεὰν
νοθεύουσι καὶ κλῆρον ὅσον τῷ δοκεῖν πατρῷον
οὐδὲν προσήκοντα διαδέξονται. καὶ 6 μὲν μοιχὸς
ἐφυβρίσας καὶ ἐναπερυγὼν τὸ πάθος, ἐπίληπτον
σπορὰν σπείρας, ὅταν ἀποπλησθῇ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας,
οἰχήσεται καταλιπών, γέλωτα θέμενος τὴν τοῦ
παρανομηθέντος ἄγνοιαν: ὁ δ᾽ οἷα τυφλὸς μηδὲν
τῶν ὑποικουρημένων ἐπιστάμενος ὡς οἰκειότατα
ἔκγονα τὰ ἐκ τῶν πολεμιωτάτων θεραπεύειν

> 4 A 9 3 ’ 2Q/
130 ἀναγκασθήσεται. φανερὸν δ᾽ εἰ γένοιτο τἀδίκημα,

, , 7 4 ε ν 2 ,
κακοδαιμονέστατοι YevowT αν Ob μηδὲν ἠδικηκότες

1 Cohn with some ss. ἀποδεικνύουσιν, but the ms. authority
is almost as good for the singular, which seems better suited

70

THE DECALOGUE, 125-130

eludes suspicion and detection, shrouded by artful
knavery and sometimes creating by deceptive wiles
the opposite impression of affection. Indeed it makes
havoc of three families : of that of the husband who
suffers from the breach of faith, stripped of the pro-
mise of his marriage-vows and his hopes of legitimate
offspring, and of two others, those of the adulterer
and the woman, for the infection of the outrage and
dishonour and disgrace of the deepest kind extends
to the family of both. And if their connexions include
a large number of persons through intermarriages
and widespread associations, the wrong will travel all
round and affect the whole State. Very
painful, too, is the uncertainstatus of the children, for
if the wife is not chaste there will be doubt and dis-
pute as to the real paternity of the offspring. Then
if the fact is undetected, the fruit of the adultery
usurp the position of the legitimate and form an
alien and bastard brood and will ultimately succeed
to the heritage of their putative father to which
they have no right. And the adulterer having in
insolent triumph vented his passions and sown the
seed of shame, his lust now sated, will leave the
scene and go on his way mocking at the ignorance
of the victim of his crime, who like a blind man
knowing nothing of the covert intrigues of the past
will be forced to cherish the children of his deadliest

126

127

128

129

foe as his own flesh and blood. On the other hand, if 130

the wrong becomes known, the poor children who
have done no wrong will be most unfortunate, unable

to the context than the plural, which would presumably have
ἀπάται or τέχναι for its subject. The sequel refers to adultery
in general rather than the deceptions which usually accom-
pany it.

71

131

132

133

134

135

PHILO

ἄθλιοι παῖδες, μηδετέρῳ γένει προσνεμηθῆναι
δυνάμενοι, μήτε τῷ τοῦ γήμαντος μήτε τῷ τοῦ
μοιχοῦ. τοιαύτας συμφορὰς ἀπεργαζομένης τῆς
ἐκνόμου μίξεως, εἰκότως στυγητὸν καὶ θεομίσητον
πρᾶγμα, μοιχεία, πρῶτον ἀδικημάτων ἀνεγράφη.
XXV. Δεύτερον δὲ πρόσταγμα μὴ ἀνδροφονεῖν.
ἀγελαστικὸν γὰρ καὶ σύννομον ζῷον τὸ ἡμερώτατον
ἄνθρωπον ἡ φύσις γεννήσασα πρὸς ὁμόνοιαν καὶ
κοινωνίαν ἐκάλεσε, λόγον δοῦσα συναγωγὸν εἰς
ἁρμονίαν καὶ κρᾶσιν ἠθῶν. ὁ δὴ κτείνων τινὰ μὴ
ἀγνοείτω νόμους φύσεως καὶ θεσμοὺς ἀνατρέπων
καλῶς καὶ συμφερόντως ἅπασι γραφέντας. ἴστω
μέντοι καὶ ἱεροσυλίας ἔνοχος ὧν τὸ ἱερώτατον τῶν

A ~ 4
τοῦ θεοῦ κτημάτων σεσυληκώς:" τί γὰρ σεμνότερον

ἢ ἁγιώτερον ἀνάθημα ἀνθρώπου; χρυσὸς μὲν καὶ

ἄργυρος καὶ λίθοι πολυτελεῖς καὶ ὅσαι ἄλλαι
τιμαλφέσταται ὗλαι κόσμος οἰκοδομημάτων ἐστίν,

ἄψυχος ἀψύχων" ἄνθρωπος δέ, ζῷον ἄριστον κατὰ
Ἁ
τὸ κρεῖττον τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ, τὴν ψυχήν, συγγενέ-
’

στατος τῷ καθαρωτάτῳ τῆς οὐσίας οὐρανῷ, ὡς

’
6 τῶν πλείστων λόγος, καὶ τῷ τοῦ κόσμου πατρί,

A 2 \ a ¢ + 3 , > ,
ans os YS ATAVTWV ee patties ate

Kal μίμημα τῆς ἀιδίου Kal εὐδαίμονος ἰδέας τὸν
νοῦν λαβών.

XXVI. Τρίτον δ᾽ ἐστὶ τῆς δευτέρας πεντάδος
παράγγελμα μὴ κλέπτειν. ὁ γὰρ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις
ἐπικεχηνὼς κοινὸς πόλεως ἐχθρός, βουλήσει μὲν
τὰ πάντων δυνάμει δὲ τά τινων ὑφαιρούμενος, τῷ
τὴν μὲν πλεονεξίαν ἐπὶ μήκιστον ἐκτείνεσθαι, τὸ

α Literally “ blending of temperaments or characteristics.”
See note on Mos. ii. 256,

72

THE DECALOGUE, 130-135

to be classed with either family, either the husband’s

or the adulterer’s. Such being the disasters wrought 131
by illicit intercourse, naturally the abominable and
God-detested sin of adultery was placed first in the
list of wrongdoing.

XXV. The second commandment is to do no 132
murder. For nature, who created man the most
civilized of animals to be gregarious and sociable,
has called him to shew fellowship and a spirit of
partnership by endowing him with reason, the bond
which leads to harmony and reciprocity of feeling.“
Let him, then, who slays another know full well that
he is subverting the laws and statutes of nature so
excellently enacted for the well-being of all. Further, 133
let him understand that he is guilty of sacrilege,
the robbery from its sanctuary of the most sacred of
God’s possessions. For what votive offering is more
hallowed or more worthy of reverence than a man ?
Gold and silver and costly stones and other sub-
stances of highest price serve as ornaments to build-
ings which are as lifeless as the ornaments themselves.
But man, the best of living creatures, through that 134
higher part of his being, namely, the soul, is most
nearly akin to heaven, the purest thing in all that
exists, and, as most admit, also to the Father of the
world, possessing in his mind a closer likeness and
copy than anything else on earth of the eternal and
blessed Archetype.

XXVI. The third commandment in the second 135
five forbids stealing, for he who gapes after what
belongs to others is the common enemy of the
State, willing to rob all, but able only to filch from
some, because, while his covetousness extends in-

73

PHILO

3 ‘
δ᾽ ἀσθενὲς ὑστερίζον εἰς βραχὺ στέλλεσθαι Kat
[208] 4 A 4 > 3 λί 4 ’ ~
μόνον | φθάνειν én’ ὀλίγους. ὅσοι τοίνυν τῶν
; “- 3 \ MN Ὁ ~ 4
κλεπτῶν ἰσχὺν προσέλαβον ὅλας συλῶσι πόλεις
ἀλογοῦντες τιμωριῶν διὰ τὸ ἐπικυδέστεροι τῶν
νόμων εἶναι δοκεῖν: οὗτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ ὀλιγαρχικοὶ
τὰς φύσεις, of τυραννίδων καὶ δυναστειῶν ἐπι-
θυμοῦντες, of τὰς μεγάλας ἐργαζόμενοι κλοπάς,
σεμνοῖς ὀνόμασι τοῖς ἀρχῆς καὶ ἡγεμονίας ἐπι-
, ’ > A » 3 a
137 κρύπτοντες λῃστείαν τἀληθὲς ἔργον. ἐκ πρώτης
> e , 9 , A Ul ~
οὖν ἡλικίας ἀναδιδασκέσθω τις μηδὲν λάθρα τῶν
3 , e a BS) 4 ey 4
ἀλλοτρίων ὑφαιρεῖσθαι, κἂν βραχύτατον ἢ, διότι
ἐγχρονίζον ἔθος φύσεως κραταιότερόν ἐστι καὶ τὰ
μικρὰ μὴ κωλυόμενα φύεται καὶ ἐπιδίδωσι πρὸς
μέγεθος συναυξανόμενα.
18 ΧΧΥΠΙ. Κλέπτειν δ᾽ ἀπειπὼν ἑξῆς ψευδο-
a a / \
μαρτυρεῖν ἀπαγορεύει, πολλοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις Kat
πᾶσι χαλεποῖς τοὺς ψευδομάρτυρας ἐνόχους εἰδώς.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον φθείρουσι τὴν σεμνὴν ἀλήθειαν,
ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν βίῳ κτῆμα ἱερώτερον,' ἡλίου τρόπον
φῶς τοῖς πράγμασι περιτιθείσης, ἵνα μηδὲν αὐτῶν
3 U4 4, A A a 4
139 ἐπισκιάζηται. δεύτερον δὲ πρὸς τῷ ψεύδεσθαι
καὶ τὰ πράγματα οἷα νυκτὶ καὶ σκότῳ βαθεῖ περι-
\ A e
αμπίσχουσι Kal συμπράττουσι μὲν τοῖς ἁμαρτά-
νουσιν, ἐπιτίθενται δὲ τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις, ἃ μήτ᾽
4
εἶδον μήτ᾽ ἤκουσαν μήτ᾽ ἴσασι παγίως εἰδέναι Kal
σφόδρα κατειληφέναι διαβεβαιούμενοι.
\ 4 A
140 προσεξεργάζονται δὲ καὶ τρίτον παρανομήμα τῶν
προτέρων apyadewrepov’ ὅταν γὰρ σπάνις ἀπο-
’ Ν᾿ A 4 “A A , > A “
δείξεων ἢ διὰ λόγων ἢ διὰ γραμμάτων, ἐπὶ μάρ-
74.

THE DECALOGUE, 135-140

definitely, his feebler capacity cannot keep pace with
it but restricted to a small compass reaches only to
afew. So all thieves who have acquired the strength
rob whole cities, careless of punishment because
their high distinction seems to set them above the
laws. These are oligarchically-minded persons, am-
bitious for despotism or domination, who perpetrate
thefts on a great scale, disguising the real fact of
robbery under the grand-sounding names. of govern-
ment and leadership. Let a man, then, learn from
his earliest years to filch nothing by stealth that
belongs to another, however small it may be, be-
cause custom in the course of time is stronger than
nature, and little things if not checked grow and
thrive till they attain. to great dimensions.

XXVIII. Having denounced theft, he next pro-
ceeds to forbid false witness, knowing that false
witnesses are guilty under many important heads,
all of them of a grave kind. In the first place, they
corrupt truth, the august, the treasure as sacred as
anything that we possess in life, which like the sun
pours light upon facts and events and allows none of
them to be kept in the shade. Secondly, apart from
the falsehood, they veil the facts as it were in night
and profound darkness, take part with the offenders
and against those who are wronged, by affirming
that they have sure knowledge and thorough ap-
prehension of things which they have neither seen
nor heard. And indeed they commit a
third transgression even more heinous than the
first two. For when there is a lack of proofs,
either verbal or written, disputants have resort to

1 So R, other mss. ἱερώτατον : Cohn proposes as an alter-
native «κάλλιον», ἱερώτατον agreeing with φῶς.

75

136

137

138

139

140

PHILO

Tupas καταφεύγουσιν ot Tas ἀμφισβητήσεις ἔχοντες,
ὧν τὰ ῥήματα κανόνες εἰσὶ τοῖς δικασταῖς περὶ
ὧν μέλλουσιν ἀποφαίνεσθαι: μόνοις γὰρ τούτοις
ἐπανέχειν ἀνάγκη, μηδενὸς ὄντος ἕτέρου τῶν εἰς
ἔλεγχον" ἐξ οὗ συμβαίνει, τοὺς μὲν καταμαρτυρου-
μένους ἀδικεῖσθαι νικᾶν δυναμένους, τοὺς δὲ
προσέχοντας δικαστὰς ἀδίκους καὶ παρανόμους

141 ψήφους ἀντὶ νομίμων καὶ δικαίων γράφειν. τὸ
μέντοι. πανούργημα φθάνει καὶ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν' οὐ
γὰρ ἀνωμότοις δικάζειν ἔθος, ἀλλὰ. μετὰ φρικω-
δεστάτων ὅρκων, οὗς παραβαίνουσι πρὸ τῶν
ἀπατωμένων οἱ φενακίζοντες, ἐπειδὴ τῶν μὲν τὸ
σφάλμα οὐ κατὰ γνώμην, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπιστήμῃ κατα-
στρατηγοῦσι καὶ ἐκ προνοίας ἁμαρτάνοντες καὶ
τοὺς κυρίους τῆς ψήφου συνεξαμαρτάνειν ἀνα-
πείθοντες οὐκ εἰδότας ὃ δρῶσιν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ τῶν

[204] οὐδεμιᾶς ἀξίων κολάσεως. | διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτά
μοι δοκεῖ ψευδομαρτυρίαν ἀπειπεῖν.

142 XXVIII. Τελευταῖον δ᾽ ἐπιθυμεῖν ἀπαγορεύει
VEWTEPOTOLOV Kal “ἐπίβουλον τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εἰδώς.
πάντα μὲν γὰρ τὰ ψυχῆς πάθη χαλεπά, κινοῦντα
καὶ σείοντα αὐτὴν παρὰ φύσιν καὶ ὑγιαίνειν οὐκ
ἐῶντα, χαλεπώτατον δ᾽ ἐπιθυμία: διὸ' τῶν μὲν
ἄλλων ἕκαστον θύραθεν ἐπεισιὸν καὶ προσπῖπτον

1 Perhaps read, as Cohn later, διότι. See note d.

α 4.¢e. the jurymen.

> Perhaps understand the jurymen, but the salons of § 91
points rather to ‘‘ oaths.”’

¢ It will be seen that Philo extends the meaning of the
word from covetousness of what is another’s to desire in
general, and this enables him to enter on a disquisition on
the four passions of the Stoics. Driver notes that the Hebrew

76

THE DECALOGUE, 140-142

witnesses whose words are taken by the jurymen as
standards in determining the verdicts they are about

to give, since they are obliged to fall back on these |

alone if there is no other means of testing the truth.
The result is that those against whom the testimony
is given suffer injustice when they might have won
their case, and the judges who listen to the testimony
record unjust and lawless instead of just and lawful
votes. In fact, the knavery of the action amounts to
impiety, for it is the rule that jurymen must be put
on their oaths and indeed oaths of the most terrific
character which are broken not so much by the vic-
tims 5 as by the perpetrators of the deception, since
the former do not err intentionally, while the latter
with full knowledge set the oaths at nought.2 They
deliberately sin themselves and persuade those who
have control of the voting to share their sin and,
though they know not what they do, punish persons
who deserve no chastisement. It was for these
reasons, I believe, that He forbade false witness.
XXVIII. The last commandment is against covet-
ousness or desire ὁ which he knew to be a subversive
and insidious enemy. For all the passions of the
soul which stir and shake it out of its proper nature
and do not let it continue in sound health are hard to
deal with, but desire is hardest of all. And therefore ὁ
while each of the others seems to be involuntary, an

word also is general and only gets its bad sense from the
context. For some analogies with Stoic phraseology see
App. p. 612.

@ The logic of **therefore’’ is not at all: clear ; ; neither,
however, is Cohn’s later substitute of ‘‘ because.”’ Perhaps
however χαλεπά may be taken=“ baneful”’ or “evil,” and
Philo is, as so often, insisting on the difference in guilt be-
tween voluntary and involuntary sins.

V7

PHILO

Ὺ > / Φ A 4 3 3 ’ \
ἔξωθεν ἀκούσιον εἶναι δοκεῖ, μόνη δ᾽ ἐπιθυμία τὴν
ἀρχὴν ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν λαμβάνει καὶ ἔστιν ἑκούσιος.

τί δ᾽ ἐστὶν ὃ λέγω; τοῦ παρόντος καὶ

’ 3 “A 4 4 \

νομισθέντος ἀγαθοῦ φαντασία διεγείρει καὶ διαν-
ίστησι τὴν ψυχὴν ἠρεμοῦσαν καὶ σφόδρα μετέωρον
9 / 4 3 4
ἐξαίρει καθάπερ ὀφθαλμοὺς φῶς ἀναστράψαν"
καλεῖται δὲ τουτὶ τὸ πάθος αὐτῆς ἡδονή.

, Qo 9 ’ 9 ms / ¢ ἢ , 1
144 τὸ δ᾽ ἐναντίον ἀγαθῷ κακόν, ὅταν εἰσβιασάμενον

’ \
πληγὴν ἐπενέγκῃ καίριον, συννοίας καὶ κατηφείας
εὐθὺς αὐτὴν ἀναπίμπλησιν ἄκουσαν: ὄνομα δὲ

145 [καὶ] τούτῳ τῷ πάθει λύπη. ὅταν δὲ

τὸ κακὸν μήπω μὲν εἰσῳκισμένον θλίβῃ, μέλλῃ δ᾽
ἀφικνεῖσθαι καὶ παρευτρεπίζηται, πτοίαν καὶ
ἀγωνίαν, ἀποφράδας ἀγγέλους, προεκπέμπει δειμα-
τοῦντας:" φόβος δὲ προσαγορεύεται τὸ πάθος.
ἐπειδὰν δὲ λαβών τις ἔννοιαν ἀγαθοῦ
μὴ παρόντος ὀρέγηται τυχεῖν αὐτοῦ, πρὸς μήκιστον
τὴν ψυχὴν ἐλαύνων" καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐκτείνων,
ψαῦσαι τοῦ ποθουμένου γλιχόμενος, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ
τροχοῦ κατατείνεται, σπεύδων μὲν συλλαβεῖν,
ἐφικνεῖσθαι δ᾽ ἀδυνατῶν καὶ ταὐτὸν πεπονθὼς τοῖς
τοὺς ἐξαναχωροῦντας διώκουσιν ἐλάττονι μὲν
τάχει προθυμίᾳ δ᾽ ἀνανταγωνίστῳ.
ὅμοιον δέ τι καὶ περὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἔοικε συμ-
βαίνειν. ὀφθαλμοί τε γὰρ πολλάκις ὁρατοῦ τινος
πάνυ μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτος εἰς κατάληψιν ἐλθεῖν
ἐπειγόμενοι, τείνοντες αὑτούς, εὖ μάλα καὶ πλέον
τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνεχθέντες, ὦλισθον κατὰ κενοῦ περὶ
τὴν ἀκριβῆ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου γνῶσιν σφαλέντες καὶ

1 So Cohn by a later correction for ἐκβιασάμενον, in which
the prefix seems very inappropriate. One s. gives ἐμβ-. No

78

THE DECALOGUE, 142-147

extraneous visitation, an assault from outside, desire
alone originates with ourselves and is voluntary.

What is it that [mean ? The presenta-
tion to the mind of something which is actually with
us and considered to be good, arouses and awakes the
soul when at rest and like a light flashing upon the
eyes raises it to a state of great elation. This sensa-
tion of the soul is called pleasure. And
when evil, the opposite of good, forces its way in and
deals a home thrust to the soul, it at once fills it all
against its will with depression and dejection. This
sensation is called grief, or pain. When
the evil thing is not yet lodged inside nor pressing
hard upon us but is on the point of arriving and is
making its preparation, it sends in its van trepidation
and distress, messengers of evil presage, to sound the
alarm. This sensation is called fear. But
when a person conceives an idea of something good
which is not present and is eager to get it, and propels
his soul to the greatest distance and strains it to the
greatest possible extent in his avidity to touch the
desired object, he is, as it were, stretched upon a
wheel, all anxiety to grasp the object but unable to
reach so far and in the same plight as persons pur-
suing with invincible zeal, though with inferior speed,
others who retreat before them. We
also find a similar phenomenon in the senses. The
eyes are often eager to obtain apprehension of some
very far off object. They strain themselves and
carry on bravely and indeed beyond their strength,

143

144

145

146

147

then hit upon a void and there slip, failing to get —

an accurate knowledge of the object in question,

such verb is known to the dictionaries, but it has the analogy
of ἐμβάλλω. 2 mss. ἐλαύνει.
79

148

PHILO

προσέτι τὴν ὄψιν τῷ βιαίῳ καὶ συντόνῳ τῆς
ἀτενοῦς προσβολῆς ἀσθενήσαντες ἀἁμαυροῦνται.

καὶ. θροῦ πάλιν ἀσαφοῦς ἐκ μακροῦ
διαστήματος φερομένου, τὰ ὦτα ἀνεγερθέντα καὶ
ἐπουρίσαντα ἵ ἵεται καὶ σπεύδει προσελθεῖν εἰ οἷόν
τε ἐγγυτέρω, πόθῳ τοῦ τρανωθῆναι ταῖς ἀκοαῖς

149 τὸν ἦχον" ὁ δ᾽ --ἔτι γὰρ ἀἁμαυρὸς ὡς ἔοικε προσ-

mimre.— οὐδὲν τῶν εἰς γνῶσιν τηλαυγέστερον
ἐπιδίδωσιν, ὡς ἔτι μᾶλλον τὸν ἀνήνυτον καὶ ἀ-
διεξίτητον ἐπιτείνεσθαι τοῦ καταλαβεῖν ἵμερον,
Ταντάλειον τιμωρίαν ἐπιφερούσης τῆς ἐπιθυμίας"
ἐκεῖνός τε “γὰρ ὧν ὀρεχθείη πάντων ὁπότε μέλλοι
ψαύσειν, ἀπετύγχανεν, ὅ τε κρατηθεὶς ἐπιθυμίᾳ,

[206] | διψῶν ἀ ἀεὶ τῶν ἀπόντων, οὐδέποτε πληροῦται περὶ
160 κενὴν ἰλυσπώμενος τὴν ὄρεξιν. ὥσπερ τε τὰ

16)

ἑρπηνώδη τῶν νοσημάτων, εἰ μὴ προανακρουσθείη
τομαῖς 7 καύσεσιν, ἐπιθέοντα σύμπασαν ἐν κύκλῳ
καταλαμβάνει τὴν τοῦ σώματος κοινωνίαν οὐδὲν
ἀπαθὲς μέρος ἐῶντα, οὕτως, εἰ μὴ λόγος ὁ κατὰ
φιλοσοφίαν ἰατροῦ δίκην ἀγαθοῦ ῥέουσαν τὴν
ἐπιθυμίαν ἐπίσχοι, πάντ᾽ ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὰ τοῦ βίου
πράγματα κινηθήσεται παρὰ φύσιν' οὐδὲν γάρ
ἐστιν ὑπεξῃρημένον ὃ διαφεύγει τὸ πάθος, ἀλλ᾽
ὅταν ἄδειαν apy καὶ ἐκεχειρίαν, ἐπινέμεται. καὶ
σίνεταιῦ πάντα διὰ πάντων. εὔηθες ἴ ἴσως
μακρηγορεῖν ἐστι περὶ τῶν οὕτως ἐμφανῶν, ἃ ἃ τίς
ἀνὴρ ἢ πόλις ἀγνοεῖ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην οὐχ ἡμέραν
μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥραν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἔλεγχον
ἐναργῆ παριστάντα; ; χρημάτων ἔρως ἢ γυναικὸς

ἢ δόξης ἢ τινος ἄλλου τῶν ἡδονὴν ἀπεργαζομένων

1 For text see App. p. 618. 2 MSS. eral:
80

THE DECALOGUE, 147-151

and furthermore they lose strength and their power
of sight is dimmed by the intensity and violence of
their steady gazing. And again when an in-
distinct noise is carried from a long distance the ears
are roused and pressed forward at high speed? and
are eager to go nearer if they could, in their longing
to have the sound made clear to the hearing. The
noise however, whose impact evidently continues to
be dull, does not shew any increase of clearness which
might make it knowable, and so a still greater in-
tensity is given to the ceaseless and indescribable
longing for apprehension. For desire entails the
punishment of Tantalus; as he missed everything
that he wished for just when he was about to touch
it, so the person who is mastered by desire, ever
thirsting for what is absent remains unsatisfied,
fumbling around his baffled appetite. And just as
diseases of the creeping type, if not arrested in time
by the knife or cautery, course round all that unites
to make the body and leave no part uninjured, so
unless philosophical reasoning, like a good physician,
checks the stream of desire, all life’s affairs will be
necessarily distorted from what nature prescribes.
For there is nothing so secreted that it escapes from
passion, which when once it finds itself in security
and freedom spreads like a flame and works universal

]

1

μ

48

49

δ0

destruction. It may perhaps be foolish 15]

to dilate at this length on facts so obvious, for what
man or city does not know that they provide clear
proof of their truth, not only every day but almost
every hour? Consider the passion whether for money
or a woman or glory or anything else that produces

α For the use of ἐπουρίζω (here intransitive) see note on
De Ab. 20 and Mos. i. 283.

VOL. VII G | 81

PHILO

Ss A A , »
ἄρά γε μικρῶν καὶ τῶν τυχόντων αἴτιος γίνεται
152 κακῶν; οὐ διὰ τοῦτον' συγγένειαι μὲν ἀλλοτριοῦνται
4 \ > 4
τὴν φυσικὴν εὔνοιαν μεθαρμοζόμεναι πρὸς avnke-
“" \ 4
στον ἔχθραν, χῶραι δὲ μεγάλαι καὶ πολυάνθρωποι
A fon \ \ 4
στάσεσιν ἐμφυλίοις ἐρημοῦνται, γῆ δὲ καὶ θάλαττα
“-- “ \ ~
πληροῦται τῶν καινουργουμένων αἰεὶ συμφορῶν
153 ’ 2 A aA An e A “EAA 4
ναυμαχίαις" καὶ πεζαῖς στρατιαῖς; ol yap ήνων
Ἁ 4 4 e Ἁ \ \ LAA: Ar
καὶ βαρβάρων πρός τε ἑαυτοὺς καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους
4 > \ A “A
τραγῳδηθέντες πόλεμοι πάντες ἀπὸ μιᾶς πηγῆς
ἐρρύησαν, ἐπιθυμίας ἢ ἢ χρημάτων ἢ δόξης ἢ ἡδονῆς"
περὶ γὰρ ταῦτα κηραίνει τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος.
1[Ἀ ΧΧΙ͂Χ. Ἅλις μὲν δὴ τούτων. χρὴ δὲ μηδ᾽
> A > aA 4 e 4 4 4 4
ἐκεῖνο ἀγνοεῖν, ὅτι ot δέκα λόγοι κεφάλαια νόμων
\ ~ > ὺ A / 3 a
εἰσὶ τῶν ἐν εἴδει παρ᾽ ὅλην τὴν νομοθεσίαν ἐν Tats
e A ’ὔ > 4 ἐ \ ~ ~
155 ἱεραῖς βίβλοις ἀναγραφέντων. ὁ μὲν πρῶτος τῶν
, & \ ~ 7 Δ “
περὶ μοναρχίας" οὗτοι δὲ δηλοῦσιν, ὅτι ἕν αἴτιον
“- 4 ty \ @ e ~
τοῦ κόσμου Kal ἡγεμὼν καὶ βασιλεὺς εἷς ὁ ἡνιοχῶν
“" ’ \
καὶ κυβερνῶν ta ὅλα σωτηρίως, ὀλιγαρχίαν ἢ
> ’ > 4 ’ 4 3
ὀχλοκρατίαν, ἐπιβούλους πολιτείας φυομένας παρ
> a ’ \
ἀνθρώποις τοῖς κακίστοις ἐξ ἀταξίας καὶ πλεον-
, A “
εξίας, ἐξεληλακὼς ἐκ τοῦ καθαρωτάτου τῆς
3 ,ὔ 9 “- e \ 4 4
156 οὐσίας, οὐρανοῦ. ὁ δὲ δεύτερος κεφά-
λαιόν ἐστι πάντων, ὅσα περὶ χειροκμήτων ἐνομο-
a >
θετεῖτο, ἀγάλματα καὶ ξόανα καὶ συνόλως ἀφ-
/ e \ \ \ \
ιδρύματα, ὧν γραφικὴ Kat πλαστικὴ βλαβεραὶ
δημιουργοί, κατασκευάζειν οὐκ ἐῶν οὐδ᾽ ὅσα
μύθων πλάσματα προσίεσθαι, θεογαμίαν καὶ θεο-
\ \ > 4 e 4 > 4
[206] γονίαν καὶ τὰς ἀμφοτέραις ἑπομένας | ἀμυθήτους
1 MSS. τοῦτο.
2 Cohn (in note to Treitel’s translation) vavpayixais. But,

82

THE DECALOGUE, 151-156

pleasure: are the evils which it causes small or
casual? Is it not the cause why kinsmen become
estranged and change their natural goodwill to
deadly hatred, why great and populous countries
are desolated by internal factions, and land and sea
are filled with ever-fresh calamaties wrought b
battles on sea and campaigns on land? For all the
wars of Greeks and barbarians between themselves
or against each other, so familiar to the tragic stage,
are sprung from one source, desire, the desire for
money or glory or pleasure. These it is that bring
disaster to the human race.

XXIX. Enough on this subject, but also we must
not forget that the Ten Covenants are summaries
of the special laws which are recorded in the Sacred
Books and run through the whole of the legislation.
The first summarizes the laws on God’s monarchical
rule. These laws declare that there is one First
Cause of the World, one Ruler and King, Who guides
the chariot and steers the bark of the universe in
safety, and has expelled from the purest part of
all that exists, namely heaven, those mischievous
forms of government, oligarchy and mob-rule, which
arise among the vilest of men, produced by dis-
order and covetousness. The second sums
up all the enactments made concerning the works
of men’s hands. It forbids the making of images or
wooden busts and idols in general produced by the
baneful craftsmanship of painting and sculpture, and
also the acceptance of fabulous legends about the
marriages and pedigrees of deities and the number-
less and very grave scandals associated with both

even if the word exists, which seems doubtful, I see no reason
for the change.

83

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

PHILO

καὶ ἀργαλεωτάτας κῆρας. τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ
ὑποστέλλει τά τε ἀνώμοτα πάντα καὶ ἐφ᾽ οἷς
ὀμνύναι δεῖ καὶ ὁπότε καὶ ὅπου χρὴ καὶ τίνα καὶ
πῶς ἔχοντα κατά τε ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα καὶ ὅσα ἐπ᾽
εὐόρκοις καὶ τοὐναντίον ἐχρήσ η.

XXX. Τὸ δὲ τέταρτον, τὸ περὶ τῆς ἑβδομάδος,
οὐδὲν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ κεφάλαιον νομιστέον ἑορτῶν καὶ τῶν
ιατεταγμένων εἰς ἑκάστην ἁγνευτικῶν, περιρραν-
τηρίων τε αἰσίων καὶ ἐπηκόων εὐχῶν καὶ θυσιῶν
τελείων, αἷς ἡ λατρεία ἐγίνετο. “ἑβδόμην δὲ λέγω
καὶ τὴν σὺν ἑξάδι τῇ γονιμωτάτῃ καὶ τὴν ἄνευ
ἑξάδος, ἐπιπροσθοῦσαν αὐτῇ, μονάδι ὁμοιουμένην,
ὧν ἑκατέρᾳ τὰς ἑορτὰς παραριθμεῖ' μονάδι μὲν
τήν τε ἱερομηνίαν, ἣν σά λπιγξιν ὑποσημαίνουσι,
καὶ νηστείαν, ἐν ἡ σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν ἀποχὴ
διείρηται, καὶ ἣν Ἑβραῖοι πατρίῳ γλώττῃ Πάσχα
προσαγορεύουσιν, ἐν ἡ θύουσι πανδημεὶ αὐτῶν'
ἕκαστος τοὺς ἱερεῖς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀναμένοντες,
ἱερωσύνην τοῦ νόμου χαρισαμένου τῷ ἔθνει παντὶ

1 Cohn suggests αὐτὸς on the ground that the stress lies on
each man sacrificing himself.

@ Or “the number seven.”’ See App. p. 613.

δ Six is the most creative of numbers, because its factors
2 and 8 represent the odd (or male) and the even (or female)
principle. See De Op. 13.

2 The seventh (or seven) which does not include six, seems
to mean that in view of the mystical identity of seven and
one (566 on § 102) a feast which occupies one day only may
be regarded as coming under the law of the seventh day.

¢ Or perhaps ‘‘supersedes it.” The verb, derived from
the adverb ἐπίπροσθεν, seems to be used of a thing which gets
in front of something else and obscures it (Spec. Leg. iv. 52).
So here the idea may be that the unit or monad does not
need six to make it equivalent to seven.

84:

THE DECALOGUE, 157-159

of these. Under the third he includes
directions as to all the cases where swearing is for-
bidden and as to the time, place, matters, persons,
state of soul and body which justify the taking of
an oath, and all pronouncements concerning those
who swear truthfully or the reverse.

XXX. The fourth, which treats of the seventh day,*
must be regarded as nothing less than a gathering
under one head of the feasts and the purifications
ordained for each feast, the proper lustrations and the
acceptable prayers and flawless sacrifices with which
the ritual was carried out. By the seventh I mean
both the seventh which includes the most creative of
numbers, six,? and that which does not include it ¢
but takes precedence of it ὦ and resembles the unit.
Both these are employed by him in reckoning the
feast-times.° The unit is taken in the case of
the holy-month-day*’ which they announce with
trumpets, and the fast-day on which abstinence
from food and drink is commanded, and the day
called by the Hebrews in their own tongue the
Pasch on which the whole people sacrifice, every
member of them, without waiting for their priests,
because the law has granted to the whole nation for

¢ The seven feasts which follow are enumerated again in
Spec. Leg. ii. 41 and described at length in the following
sections. ‘They appear there, however, in the order in which
they occur in the year and are not classified according to the
number of days observed. Also there are three which do
not appear in this list, the Sabbath itself, the feast of ‘* Every
Day ”’ and the monthly New Moon. The first of these is of
course implied here, and the omission of the second is not
unnatural, but it is curious that the New Moon should be
left out. Has τὴν νουμηνίαν fallen out before τήν τε ἱερομηνίαν ?

7 Or opening of the holy month, see App. pp. 613-614.

85

157

158

159

PHILO

\1 , ε» 55 2 A A ” 9
Κατα pPlav μεραν ἐξαίρετον ανα πᾶν ΕεΕτος εις

9 ’ ~ \ »* \ > «a /
160 αὐτουργίαν θυσιῶν" καὶ ἔτι τὴν ἐν ἧ προσφέρεται

161

162

[207]

163

δράγμα χαριστήριον evyovias καὶ φορᾶς τῆς πε-
διάδος δι᾽ ἀσταχύων πληρώσεως: καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ ταύ-
της καταριθμουμένην ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάσι πεντηκοστὴν -
ἡμέραν, ἐν ἧ προσάγειν ἄρτους ἔθος, ot καλοῦνται
πρωτογεννημάτων ἐτύμως, ἐπειδήπερ εἰσὶν ἀπαρχὴ
γεννημάτων καὶ καρπῶν ἡμέρου τροφῆς, ἣν
ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ ἡμερωτάτῳ ζῴων ἀπένειμεν ὁ θεός.
ἑβδομάδι δὲ τὰς μεγίστας καὶ πολυημέρους ἑορτὰς
προσένειμε κατὰ τὰς τοῦ ἔτους ἰσημερίας, ἐαρινὴν
καὶ μετοπωρινήν, δύο δυσὶν ἀναθείς, ἑκατέραν ἐφ᾽
ἡμέρας ἕπτά, τὴν μὲν κατὰ τὸ ἔαρ ἐπὶ τελειώσει
τῶν σπειρομένων, τὴν δὲ μετοπωρινὴν ἐπὶ συγ-
κομιδῇ καρπῶν ἁπάντων, οὗς καὶ τὰ δένδρα
ἤνεγκεν. ἑπτὰ δ᾽ ἡμέραι ἀπενεμήθησαν εἰκότως
ἑπτὰ μησὶ τῆς ἰσημερίας ἑκατέρας, ἵνα μὴν
ἕκαστος λαμβάνῃ γέρας ἐξαίρετον μίαν ἱερὰν
ἡμέραν: ἑορτώδη πρὸς εὐθυμίαν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν
ἐκεχειρίας. ἐμφέρονται δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι νόμοι πάνυ
καλῶς τεθέντες, εἰς ἡμερότητα καὶ κοινωνίαν
ἀτυφίαν τε καὶ ἰσότητα προκαλούμενοι: τούτων
οἱ μέν εἰσι περὶ τοῦ λεγομένου ἑἕβδοματικοῦ," καθ᾽
ὃ διείρηται πᾶσαν ἀργὴν τὴν χώραν ἐᾶν μήτε
σπείροντας μήτε ἀροῦντας μήτε δένδρα διακαθ-
αίροντας ἢ τέμνοντας 7) ὅσ᾽ ἄλλα τῶν κατὰ γεωργίαν
ἐπιτελοῦντας: ἕξ γὰρ ἐνιαυτοῖς τήν τε πεδιάδα

1 Mss. καὶ.

? Perhaps, as Mangey suggests, ἔτους (or ἐνιαυτοῦ) has fallen
out. Ch. J osephus, Ant. xi. 8. 6 τὸ ἑβδοματικὸν ἔτος... . οὐδὲ yap
αὐτοὺς σπείρειν ἐν αὐτῷ. But why add λεγομένου It sug-

86

THE DECALOGUE, 159-163

one special day in every year the right of priest-
hood and of performing the sacrifices themselves.
Also the day on which a sheaf is brought as a
thanksgiving for fertility and for the produce of
the lowlands as shown in the full corn in the ear ;
then by reckoning seven sevens after this the fiftieth
day, when it is the custom to bring loaves the nature
of which is properly described by their title of ‘‘ loaves
of the first-products,” as they are the sample of the
crops and fruits produced by civilized cultivation
which God has assigned for his nourishment to man,
the most civilized of living things. To seven he gives
the chief feasts prolonged for many days, two feasts,*
that is, for the two equinoxes, each lasting for seven
days, the first in the spring to celebrate the ripeness
of the sown crops, the second in the autumn for the
ingathering of all the tree-fruits ; also seven days
were naturally assigned to the seven months of each
equinox,’ so that each month may have, as a special
privilege, one festal day consecrated to cheerfulness
and enjoyment of leisure. Other laws, too, come
under the same head, admirable enactments exhort-
ing men to gentleness and fellowship and simplicity
and equality. Some of them deal with the hebdo-
madal year, as it is called, in which the land is ordered
to be left entirely idle without any sowing or plough-
ing or purging or pruning of trees or any other opera-
tion of husbandry. For when both the lowlands and

@ 2,6. Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles, but the latter
had eight days. See Spec. Leg. ii. 211.

> According to the ordinary inclusive reckoning each
equinox occurs in the 7th month after the preceding.

gests rather that the simple τὸ «83. had become a recognized
phrase for the sabbatical year.
87

160

161

162

163

PHILO

καὶ τὴν ὀρεινὴν εἰς καρπῶν γένεσιν καὶ δασμῶν
ἐτήσιον φορὰν πονηθείσας ἀνέσεως ἠξίωσε τοῦ
ιαπνεῦσαι χάριν καὶ ἀπελευθεριάσαι 'χρησαμένας"

164 ἀνεπικελεύστῳ τῇ φύσει. ἕτεροι δ᾽ εἰσὶ περὶ τοῦ
πεντηκοστοῦ ἔτους, ἐν ᾧ τά τε λεχθέντα ἀρτίως
ἐπιτελεῖται καὶ-τὸ ἀναγκαιότατον.--τῶν κληρου-
χιῶν ἀποκατάστασις εἰς τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς λαχόντας
οἴκους, πρᾶγμα φιλανθρωπίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης
μεστόν.

165 XXXI. To δὲ πέμπτον, τὸ περὶ γονέων τιμῆς,
πολλοὺς καὶ ἀναγκαίους νόμους ὑπαινίττεται, τοὺς
ἐπὶ πρεσβύταις καὶ νέοις ἀναγραφέντας, τοὺς ἐπ᾽
ἄρχουσι καὶ ὑπηκόοις, τοὺς ἐπ᾽ εὐεργέταις καὶ
εὖ πεπονθόσι, τοὺς ἐπὶ δούλοις καὶ δεσπόταις.

166 γονεῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ κρείττονι τῶν εἰρημένων εἰσὶ
τάξει, ἐν ἡ πρεσβύτεροι, ἡγεμόνες, εὐεργέται,
δεσπόται, παῖδες δὲ ἐν τῇ καταδεεστέρᾳ, ἐν 4

167 νεώτεροι, ὑπήκοοι, εὖ πεπονθότες, δοῦλοι. πολλὰ
δὲ καὶ ἄλλα προστέτακται, νέοις μὲν εἰς ἀποδοχὴν
γήρως, πρεσβύταις δ᾽ εἰς ἐπιμέλειαν νεότητος, καὶ
ὑπηκόοις μὲν εἰς πειθαρχίαν ἡγεμόνων, ἡγεμόσι
δ᾽ εἰς ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀρχομένων, καὶ εὖ μὲν πεπον-
θόσιν εἰς χαρίτων ἀμοιβάς, ἄρξασι δὲ δωρεῶν εἰς
τὸ μὴ ζητεῖν καθάπερ ἐν δανείοις ἀπόδοσιν, καὶ
θεράπουσι μὲν εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν φιλοδέσποτον, δεσπό-

“ταῖς δ᾽ εἰς ἤἠπιότητα καὶ πρᾳότητα, δι᾽ ὧν ἐξισοῦται
A 3
τὸ ἄνισον.

168 XXXII. Καὶ ἡ μὲν προτέρα πεντὰς ἐν τούτοις
περατοῦται" κεφαλαιώδη τύπον περιέχουσα, τῶν δ᾽
ἐν εἴδει νόμων οὐκ ὀλίγος ἀριθμός. τῆς δ᾽ ἑτέρας

\ Ων

πρῶτόν ἐστι κεφάλαιον τὸ κατὰ μοιχῶν, ᾧ ὕὑπο-

[᾿
1 MSS. χρησάμενος. 2 MSs. περαιοῦται.

88

THE DECALOGUE, 163-168

the uplands have been worked for six years to bring
forth fruits and pay their annual tribute, he thought
well to give them a rest to serve as a breathing-space

in which they might enjoy the freedom of undirected
nature. And there are other laws about the fiftieth 164
year which is marked not only by the course of action
just related, but also by the restoration of inheritance

to the families which originally possessed them, a
very necessary procedure abounding in humanity
and justice.

XXXI. In the fifth commandment on honouring 165
parents we have a suggestion of many necessary laws
drawn up to deal with the relations of old to young,
rulers to subjects, benefactors to benefited, slaves to
masters. For parents belong to the superior class 166
of the above-mentioned pairs, that which comprises
seniors, rulers, benefactors and masters, while chil-
dren occupy the lower position with juniors, subjects,
receivers of benefits and slaves. And there are many 167
other instructions given, to the young on courtesy
to the old, to the old on taking care of the young, to
subjects on obeying their rulers, to rulers on pro-
moting the welfare of their subjects, to recipients of
benefits on requiting them with gratitude, to those
who have given of their own initiative on not seek-
ing to get repayment as though it were a debt, to
servants on rendering an affectionate loyalty to
their masters, to masters on showing the gentleness
and kindness by which inequality is equalized.

XXXII. The first set having each of them the form 168
of a summary contains these five and no more, while
the number of the special laws is considerable. In
the other set the first head is that against adultery,

89

PHILO

τέτακται πλεῖστα διατάγματα, TO κατὰ φθορέων,
τὸ κατὰ παιδεραστῶν, τὸ κατὰ τῶν λαγνίστερον
βιούντων ὁμιλίαις τε καὶ μίξεσιν ἐκνόμοις καὶ

169 ἀκολάστοις χρωμένων. τὰς δὲ ἰδέας ἀναγέγραφεν

[208] οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηνῦσαι τὸ | πολύχουν καὶ πολύτροπον
τῆς ἀκρασίας, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοὺς ἀσχημόνως
ζῶντας ἐμφανέστατα δυσωπεῖν ἐπαντλοῦντα' τοῖς
ὠσὶν αὐτῶν ἀθρόα ὀνείδη, δι᾿ ὧν ἐρυθριάσουσι.

170 δεύτερον δὲ κεφάλαιον ἡ τοῦ μὴ
ἀνδροφονεῖν ἀπαγόρευσις, ὑφ᾽ ἥν εἰσι πάντες οἱ
περὶ βιαίων, ὕβρεως, αἰκίας, τραυμάτων, πηρώσεως
ἀναγκαῖοι νόμοι καὶ σφόδρα κοινωφελεῖς.

171 τρίτον δὲ τὸ περὶ τοῦ μὴ κλέπτειν, ᾧ ὑποτέτακται
τὰ ἐπὶ χρεωκοπίαις ὁρισθέντα καὶ ἐξάρνοις παρα-
καταθηκῶν καὶ ᾿ἀκοινωνήτῳ κοινωνίᾳ καὶ ἀναισ-
χύντοις ἁρπαγαῖς καὶ συνόλως πλεονεξίαις, ὑφ᾽
ὧν πείθονταί τινες φανερῶς 7 λάθρα τἀλλότρια

172 Aries τέταρτον δὲ TO περὶ τοῦ
μὴ ψευὸ ομαρτυρεῖν, ᾧ πολλὰ “ἐμφέρεται, τὸ μὴ
ἀπατᾶν, τὸ μὴ συκοφαντεῖν, τὸ μὴ τοῖς ἐξαμαρ-
τάνουσι συμπράττειν, τὸ μὴ ποιεῖσθαι προκάλυμμα
πίστιν ἀπιστίας, ἐφ οἷς ἅπασι νόμοι. προσήκοντες

173 ἐτέθησαν. πέμπτον δὲ τὸ ἀνεῖργον τὴν τῶν
ἀδικημάτων πηγήν, ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς ῥέουσιν at
παρανομώταται πράξεις, ἴδιαι Kal κοιναί, μικραὶ
καὶ μεγάλαι, ἱεραὶ καὶ βέβηλοι, περί τε σώματα

1. So Cohn for ms. ἐπαντλοῦντας. But strict grammar
requires ἐπαντλῶν.
" Mangey corrected to ἀνίεραι (dviepor?), ‘* neque sane
actiones ἱεραὶ possunt ab impuro fonte cupiditatis profluere.”’

But an antithesis is clearly required and the deed may
remain ‘‘ sacred’ though done from an impure motive.

¢ Τ understand this to refer to cases where a man repays a

90

)

THE DECALOGUE, 168-173

under which come many enactments against seducers
and pederasty, against dissolute living and indulgence
in lawless and licentious forms of intercourse. The
characteristics of these he has described, not to show
the multiform varieties which incontinence assumes,
but to bring to shame in the most open way those
who live a disreputable life by pouring into their ears
a flood of reproaches calculated to make them blush.
The second head forbids murder, and
under it come the laws, all of them indispensable and
of great public utility, about violence, insult, outrage,
wounding and mutilation. ο. The third is
that against stealing under which are included the
decrees made against defaulting debtors, repudiations
of deposits, partnerships which are not true to their
name, shameless robberies and in general covetous
feelings which urge men openly or secretly to appro-
priate the possessions of others. The
fourth against bearing false witness embraces many
prohibitions. It forbids deceit, false accusation, co-
operation with evil-doers and using honesty as a
screen for dishonesty,? all of which have pece the
subjects of appropriate laws.
The fifth blocks that fount of injustice, aesice: from
which flow the most iniquitous actions, public and
private, small and great, dealing with things sacred or
things profane, affecting bodies and souls and what

small sum or returns a small deposit in order to induce the
other party to entrust him with something greater which he
can embezzle. Philo has referred to this form of dishonesty
in De Cher. 14 and De-Plant. 101. One would expect it to
come under the head of stealing, but Philo notes it in Spec.
Leg. iv. 67 under the ninth commandment. Possibly, how-
ever, it may refer more generally to the false assumption of
a truthful air.

91

169

170

171

172

173

PHILO

A \ A \ 4 3 4 ᾽ὔ \
καὶ ψυχὰς καὶ Ta λεγόμενα ἐκτός" διαφεύγει yap
οὐδέν, ὡς καὶ πρότερον ἐλέχθη, τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν,
> 9 4a ἢ 3 e , A ,
ἀλλ᾽ ofa φλὸξ ev ὕλῃ νέμεται δαπανῶσα πάντα

A 4 \ \ \ “ e 4

174 Kat φθείρουσα. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ὑποπιπτόντων
αὐτῇ διατέτακται πρός τε νουθεσίας ἐπανόρθωσιν
ἐνδεχομένων καὶ πρὸς κόλασιν ἀφηνιαστῶν ὅλον
τὸν βίον ἐνδεδωκότων τῷ πάθει.

175 ΧΧΧΠΙ. Τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ τῆς δευτέρας πεντά-
δος ἀποχρώντως λέλεκται πρὸς ἐκπλήρωσιν τῶν
δέκα λογίων, ἅπερ ἱεροπρεπῶς “ἔχρησεν αὐτὸς ὁ
θεός. ἦν γὰρ ἁρμόττον αὐτοῦ τῇ φύσει, κεφάλαια
μὲν τῶν ἐν εἴδει “νόμων αὐτοπροσώπως θεσπίσαι,
νόμους δὲ τοὺς ἐν τῷ μέρει διὰ τοῦ τελειοτάτου

“~ “~ a 3
τῶν προφητῶν, ὃν ἐπικρίνας ἀριστίνδην καὶ ἀνα-
πλήσας ἐνθέου πνεύματος ἑρμηνέα τῶν χρησμῳ-
δουμένων εἵλετο.

\ \ A , \ 27 2 ἃ ν 3

176 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λέγωμεν τὴν αἰτίαν, δι᾽ ἣν τοὺς
δέκα λόγους 7 νόμους ἀπεφήνατο ψιλαῖς προστάξεσι
καὶ ἀπαγορεύσεσι κατὰ τῶν παραβησομένων, ὡς
ἔθος νομοθέταις, μηδὲν ὁρίσας ἐπιτίμιον: θεὸς ἦν,
εὐθὺς δὲ κύριος ἀγαθός, μόνων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος,

A > 3 4 3 4 Oy e A e ~

177 κακοῦ δ᾽ οὐδενός. οἰκειότατον οὖν ὑπολαβὼν αὑτοῦ

τῇ φύσει τὰ σωτήρια κελεύειν ἀμιγῆ καὶ ἀμέτοχα

’ 3, 4
[209] τιμωρίας, ἵνα μή πως | φόβῳ τις ἄφρονι συμβούλῳ
χρησάμενος ἄκων ἀλλ᾽ ἔμφρονι λογισμῷ καθ᾽

ἑκούσιον γνώμην αἱρῆται τὰ βέλτιστα, μετὰ

@ Or “fuel.”

> I do not think that Treitel and Mangey bring out the
full sense of this. ‘The essential characteristic of God as θεός
is goodness, cf. e.g. Spec. Leg. i. 307. It is in His other
aspect of κύριος that He gives the commandments, and is
indeed the κολαστικὴ δύναμις, but the goodness of θεός is so

92

THE DECALOGUE, 173-177

are called external things. Tor nothing escapes de-
sire, and as I have said before, like a flame in the
forest, it spreads abroad and consumes and destroys
everything. And there are many ordinances which
come under this head intended for the admonition
of those who are capable of reformation and the
punishment of the rebellious who have made a life-
. long surrender to passion.

XXXIII. This is all that need be said regarding
the second five to complete our account of the ten
oracles which God gave forth Himself as well befitted
His holiness. For it was in accordance with His
nature that the pronouncements in which the special
laws were summed up should be given by Him in His
own person, but the particular laws by the mouth of
the most perfect of the prophets whom He selected for
his merits and having filled him with the divine spirit,
chose him to be the interpreter of His sacred utter-
ances.

Next let us pass on to give the reason why He ex-
pressed the ten words or laws in the form of simple
commands or prohibitions without laying down any
penalty, as is the way of legislators, against future
transgressors. He was God, and it follows at once
that as Lord ὃ He was good, the cause of good only
and of nothing ill. So then He judged that it was
most in accordance with His being to issue His saving
commandments free from any admixture of punish-
ment, that men might choose the best, not involun-
tarily, but of deliberate purpose, not taking senseless
fear but the good sense of reason for their counsellor.

far extended to κύριος that the execution of punishment, and
indeed here the sentencing, is entrusted to subordinates. For
a similar thought to this cf. De Fuga 66.

03

174

175

176

178

PHILO

κολάσεως οὐκ ἠξίωσε θεσπίζειν, οὐκ ἀουλίαν Tots
ἀδικοπραγοῦσι διδούς, ἀλλ᾽ εἰδὼς τὴν πάρεδρον
αὑτῷ δίκην καὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἔφορον πραγ-
μάτων οὐκ ἠρεμήσουσαν ἅτε φύσει μισοπόνηρον
καὶ ὥσπερ τι συγγενὲς ἔργον ἐκδεξομένην τὴν κατὰ
4 », >

τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων ἄμυναν. ἐμπρεπὲς γὰρ ὑπ-
ηρέταις μὲν καὶ ὑπάρχοις θεοῦ καθάπερ τοῖς πολέμου
στρατηγοῖς ἐπὶ λιποτάκταις ot λείπουσι τὴν τοῦ
δικαίου τάξιν ἀμυντηρίοις χρῆσθαι, τῷ δὲ μεγάλῳ
βασιλεῖ τὴν κοινὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἐπιγεγράφθαι τοῦ
παντός, εἰρηνοφυλακοῦντι καὶ τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης
ἀγαθὰ πάντα τοῖς πανταχοῦ πᾶσιν ἀεὶ πλουσίως
καὶ ἀφθόνως χορηγοῦντι: τῷ γὰρ ὄντι ὁ μὲν θεὸς
πρύτανις εἰρήνης, οἵ ὑποδιάκονοι πολέμων
ἡγεμόνες εἰσίν.

04

THE DECALOGUE, 177-178

He therefore thought right not to couple punishment
with His utterances, though He did not thereby grant
immunity to evil-doers, but knew that justice His
assessor, the surveyor of human affairs, in virtue of
her inborn hatred of evil, will not rest, but take upon
herself as her congenital task the punishment of
sinners. For it befits the servants and lieutenants of 178
God, that like generals in war-time they should bring
vengeance to bear upon deserters who leave the ranks
of justice. But it befits the Great King that the
general safety of the universe should be ascribed to
Him, that He should be the guardian of peace and
supply richly and abundantly the good things of
peace, all of them to all persons in every place and at
every time. For indeed God is the Prince of Peace
while His subalterns are the leaders in war.

95

THE SPECIAL LAWS
(DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS)

VOL. VII H

INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, I

This treatise opens with a discussion of circumcision and
its hygienic value (1-7), followed by its allegorical interpreta-
tion as signifying the excision of voluptuousness and conceit
(8-11). The treatment of the First Commandment which
follows (12-20) is much on the lines of that in De Dec., as also
is that of the Second (21-31) with the addition that it inter-
prets “‘idols’’ symbolically also, as representing the vain
things, such as wealth, which humanity worships.

In 32-35 the proof of God’s existence, and in 36-50 the
value of meditation on the Divine nature, inscrutable though
it is, are set forth. While proselytes are to be welcomed,
apostates must be put to death without mercy, as in the story
of Phinehas (51-57). The prohibition of divination and like
practices, for which the prophetic gift is the divinely-assigned
substitute, concludes what he has to say about the laws which
inculcate a proper conception of God (58-65). The rest of the
treatise down to 298 is concerned with regulations of worship.

These begin with the Temple itself; the reasons that
there is but one (66-70), a general description of it (71-75),
its revenues (76-78) ; then the priests and Levites, the bodily
qualifications required of them (79-81), their dress (82-83),
and that of the high priest with the spiritual lessons sym-
bolized by it (84-97), their abstinence from intoxicants while
officiating (98-100), rules about their marriage, including
some special rules applying only to the high priest (101-111),
restrictions as to contact with dead bodies (112-116), and use
of the sacrificial meats (117-130).

The revenues of the priests consist partly of tithes, including
the ransom of the first-born (131-144), and the portions of
the sacrifices allotted to them (145-155), similarly the
revenues of the Levites or temple-attendants include the tithes
as well as their forty-eight cities (156-161).

The animals allowed for sacrifices are doves, pigeons,
sheep, goats, and oxen, all of which must be flawless (162-
167). ‘The various offerings follow as prescribed, daily or on
the Sabbath (168-176), on the new moons (177-179), on the
other feasts (180-189). There is also required on each
occasion a he-goat as a Sin-offering (190-193). These sacri-
fices may be classified as (a) whole-burnt-offerings, (δ)
‘preservation”’ (or ‘‘peace”’) offerings, (c) sin-offerings

98

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I

(194-197). ‘The first class, whose motive is the honouring
of God, is described in detail with full explanation of its
symbolism (198-211). So, too, the second, which is a prayer
for human betterment, with some reflections on the signi-
ficance of the parts of the victim (212-223), and on a sub-
division of them called ‘“‘ praise-offering’’ (224-225). The
third, the sin-offering, which asks for pardon of the past,
varies with the class of person offering it and whether the
sin is voluntary or involuntary (226-246). Finally, we
have an account of the special case of the Nazirite or
‘* great”? vow in which the offering of the Self partakes of
the nature of all the three described above (247-254), In all
these the offering has been given by laymen, but the priests
also must make their oblation of fine flour (255-256).

What is required of the worshipper himself? Purity of
soul (257-260), also of the body, but the method used of
sprinkling with hyssop dipped in water poured on the ashes
of a heifer is really a symbol of soul-purification (261-272).
The same is shown by the superiority assigned to the altar of
incense as against that on which animals are immolated (273-
279), and by the prohibition of bringing the harlot’s hire into the
temple (280-284), and the high qualities required in the altar
of the worshipper’s soul are shown by the fire maintained on
the altar (285-288), and the order that salt should always and
honey and leaven never be used in the oblation (289-295).
The next point, that the lamp on the sacred candlestic
is to be kept alight all night as a thank-offering for the
blessings of sleep seems somewhat irrelevant (296-298).

The spiritual lessons given above are all conveyed in the
form of symbolical ritual. We pass on to the exhortations
to virtue given in Deuteronomy (299-318). This leads him on
to ibid. xxiii. 18, which he understands to be directed against
“mysteries”? as opposed to open preaching of righteousness
(319-323), and then to ibid. 1-3, where various classes are ex-
cluded from the congregation (324-326).

A long allegory concludes the treatise. The five classes
which he finds there symbolized are (a) the deniers of the
Platonic Forms or Ideas (327-329), (6) atheists (330), (c) poly-
theists (331-332), (d) those who honour the human mind
(333-336), or (46) human senses (337-343), rather than God,
to whom the true disciple of Moses looks (344-345).

For Cohn’s Numeration of Chapters see Gen. Int. p. xvii.

99

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΩΝ EN MEPEI ΔΙΑΤΑΓΜΑΤΩΝ

ΠΕΡῚ TON ANA®EPOMENON ἘΝ EIAEI
NOMON ΕἸΣ AYO KE®AAATA TON AEKA -
ΛΟΓΊΩΝ, TO TE MH NOMIZEIN EHO TOY
ΕΝΟΣ @®EOYX ETEPOYX AYTOKPATEI®
KAI TO MH XBEIPOKMHTA ΘΕΟΠΛΑΣ-
TEIN

[210] \ \ 4 “- 3 3 4 e

1 1. Ta μὲν γένη τῶν ev εἴδει νόμων, ot mpocayo-
ρευόμενοι δέκα λόγοι, διὰ τῆς προτέρας ἠκρίβωνται
συντάξεως, τὰ δ᾽ ἐν μέρει διατάγματα κατὰ τὴν τῆς
γραφῆς ἀκολουθίαν νῦν ἐπισκεπτέον. ἄρξομαι δ᾽

9 ἀπὸ τοῦ γελωμένου παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς. γελᾶται δὲ
ἡ τῶν γεννητικῶν περιτομή. πρᾶγμα σπουδαζό-
μενον οὐ μετρίως καὶ παρ᾽ ἑτέροις ἔθνεσι καὶ
μάλιστα τῷ Αἰγυπτιακῷ, ὃ καὶ πολυανθρωπότατον
καὶ ἀρχαιότατον καὶ φιλοσοφώτατον εἶναι δοκεῖ.

8 παρὸ καὶ προσῆκον ἦν παιδικὴν χλεύην μεθεμένους
φρονιμώτερον καὶ σεμνότερον ἀναζητῆσαι τὰς αἷ-

@ Or “ gods with absolute powers,’ > see § 13.

> In the mss. this chapter is headed epi περιτομῆς.

¢ Or (as Mangey and Heinemann) “in the order indicated
in the scriptures,” ¢.e. though the laws are not actually
grouped in the Pentateuch τῆι ἈΝ the Ten Commandments,
such an order is suggested by the Decalogue. γραφή, how-
ever, in this sense seems to be regularly coupled with ἱερά.

100

THE SPECIAL LAWS
BOOK I

ON THE SPECIAL LAWS WHICH FALL UNDER THE TWO
HEADS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, ONE OF WHICH
IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
OTHER SOVEREIGN GODS®% SAVE THE ONE, AND THE
OTHER AGAINST GIVING HONOURS TO THE WORKS OF
MEN’S HANDS

I. >The Ten Words, as they are called, the main
heads under which are summarized the Special Laws,
have been explained in detail in the preceding
treatise. We have now, as the sequence of our dis-
sertation ° requires, to examine the particular ordin-
ances. I will begin with that which is an object of
ridicule among many people. Now the practice
which is thus ridiculed, namely the circumcision of
the genital organs, is very zealously observed by
many other nations, particularly by the Egyptians,
a race regarded as pre-eminent for its populousness,
its antiquity and its attachment to philosophy. And
therefore it would be well for the detractors to desist
from childish mockery and to inquire in a wiser
and more serious spirit into the causes to which the
For the meaning given in the translation cf. De Hbr. 1, De

Som. i. 1.
ὦ For circumcision in Egypt see App. p. 615.

101

a

2

3

PHILO

Tias, ὧν χάριν ἐκράτησε τὸ ἔθος, καὶ μὴ προεξανα-
στάντας καταγινώσκειν μεγάλων ἐθνῶν εὐχέρειαν,
λ 4 e 3 ’ 1 ᾽ὔ (ὃ θ᾽
[211] λογιζομένους, ὡς εἰκός, τοσαύτας | μυριάδας κα
ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἀποτέμνεσθαι, μετὰ χαλεπῶν ἀλ-
~ \ ~
γηδόνων ἀκρωτηριαζούσας τά τε ἑαυτῶν καὶ τῶν
3 4 . ’ Ἁ 9- > \
οἰκειοτάτων σώματα, πολλὰ δ᾽ εἶναι τὰ προ-
“- “- “-. \
τρέποντα τὴν εἰσήγησιν τῶν παλαιῶν διατηρεῖν καὶ
3 A \ 9 > / 4 Δ
4 ἐπιτελεῖν, τὰ δ᾽ ἀνωτάτω TETTAPA’ ἕν
\ a / \ , , 2 5
μὲν χαλεπῆς νόσου καὶ δυσιάτου, ποσθένης," ἀπ-
’ “ 5 A > \ lon 4 3
αλλαγήν, ἣν ἄνθρακα καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ καίειν ἐν-
τυφόμενον, ὡς οἶμαι, ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυ-
χόντα, ὅπερ εὐκολώτερον τοῖς ἀκροποσθίας ἔχουσιν
> 4 4 Ἁ Ἁ 9 Ψ “ ’
5 ἐγγίνεται" δεύτερον δὲ τὴν St ὅλου τοῦ σώματος
Pi
καθαριότητα πρὸς TO ἁρμόττον τάξει ἱερωμένῃ,
παρὸ καὶ ξυρῶνται τὰ σώματα προσυπερβάλλοντες
e 9 3 ’ὔ “σ᾿ e 4 e V4 \ 3
οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ἱερέων" ὑποσυλλέγεται γὰρ καὶ
e 4 \ \ \ 4 ” ~ 3
ὑποστέλλει καὶ θριξὶ καὶ ποσθίαις ἔνια τῶν ὀφει-
’ 4 4 \ \ \ [4
6 λόντων καθαίρεσθαι: τρίτον δὲ τὴν πρὸς καρδίαν
ὁμοιότητα τοῦ περιτμηθέντος μέρους: πρὸς γὰρ
γένεσιν ἄμφω παρεσκεύασται, τὸ μὲν ἐγκάρδιον
“-Ἠο 4 ,
πνεῦμα νοημάτων, τὸ δὲ γόνιμον ὄργανον ζῴων"

1 So Cohn with some ss. in preference to the ὡς οὐκ εἰκὸς
of the better mss. This would mean “‘ reflecting that it is not
likely that so many nations would,” etc. (without some good
reason). But this last can hardly be understood, and Mangey
suggests the insertion of μάτην.

2 Perhaps, as Cohn suggests, read πόσθης. See Hermes,
1908, p. 185. The suggestion of ποσθαίνης (H. Grégoire,
Hermes, 1909, p. 319) is open to the objection that the names

102

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 3-6

persistence of this custom is due, instead of dismissing
the matter prematurely and impugning the good
sense of great nations. Such persons might natur-
ally reflect that all these thousands in every genera-
tion undergo the operation and suffer severe pains
in mutilating the bodies of themselves and their
nearest and dearest, and that there are many circum-
stances which urge the retention and performance
of a custom introduced by the men of old. The
principal reasons are four in number. One 4
is that it secures exemption from the severe and
almost incurable malady of the prepuce called anthrax
or carbuncle, so named, I believe, from the slow fire @
which it sets up and to which those who retain the
foreskin are more susceptible. Secondly, it pro-
motes the cleanliness of the whole body as befits
the consecrated order, and therefore the Egyptians
carry the practice to a further extreme and have the
bodies of their priests shaved. For some substances
which need to be cleared away collect and secrete
themselves both in the hair and the foreskin.
Thirdly, it assimilates ὃ the circumcised member to the 6
heart. For as both are framed to serve for genera-
tion, thought being generated by the spirit force in
the heart,° living creatures by the reproductive organ,

Ct

α Or “inward and secret fire.”’ Lit. ‘‘ burns smouldering.”
Heinemann less accurately, I think, “ stark brennt.’”” Mangey
‘* urit cum inflammatione.”’

δ Lit. “the likeness,” not meaning that they are naturally
alike, but that they are made so by circumcision, for ὁμοιότητα,
like ἀπαλλαγήν and καθαριότητα above, must give the result of
the process.

¢ See App. p. 615.

of diseases in -a:va, like φλύκταινα and γάγγραινα, do not seem
to be formed like the names in -ἰτὶς from the part attacked.
The text is very confused in the different mss.

103

7

8

10

[212]

PHILO

ἐδικαίωσαν yap οἱ πρῶτοι τῷ ἀφανεῖ καὶ κρείττονι,
du οὗ τὰ νοητὰ συνίσταται, τὸ ἐμφανὲς καὶ ὁρατόν,
ᾧ τὰ αἰσθητὰ γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκεν, ἐξομοιῶσαι"
τέταρτον δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαιότατον τὴν πρὸς πολυγονίαν
παρασκευήν' λέγεται γὰρ ὡς εὐοδεῖ τὸ σπέρμα μήτε
σκιδνάμενον μήτε περιρρέον εἰς τοὺς τῆς ποσθίας
κόλπους" ὅθεν καὶ τὰ περιτεμνόμενα τῶν ἐθνῶν
πολυγονώτατα καὶ πολυανθρωπότατα εἶναι δοκεῖ.

II. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰς ἀκοὰς ἦλθε τὰς ἡμετέρας,
ἀρχαιολογούμενα παρὰ θεσπεσίοις ἀνδράσιν, οἱ τὰ
Μωυσέως οὐ παρέργως διηρεύνησαν. ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς
τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ σύμβολον ἡγοῦμαι τὴν περι-
τομὴν δυοῖν εἶναι τοῖν ἀναγκαιοτάτοιν" ἑνὸς μὲν
ἡδονῶν ἐκτομῆς, at καταγοητεύουσι διάνοιαν'
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ νικητήρια φέρεται τῶν ἐν ἡδοναῖς
diAtpwv ἡ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς γυναῖκα συνουσία, τὸ
ὑπηρετοῦν ταῖς τοιαύταις ὁμιλίαις ὄργανον ἀκρωτη-
ριάζειν ἔδοξε τοῖς νομοθέταις, αἰνιττομένοις περι-
τομὴν. περιττῆς ἐκτομὴν καὶ πλεοναζούσης ἡδονῆς,
οὐ μιᾶς, ἀλλὰ διὰ μιᾶς τῆς βιαστικωτάτης καὶ τῶν
ἄλλων ἁπασῶν" ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ γνῶναί
τινα ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν βαρεῖαν νόσον, οἴησιν, ψυχῆς
ἀπώσασθαι: ἔνιοι γὰρ ὡς ἀγαθοὶ ζῳοπλάσται ζῴων
τὸ κάλλιστον, ἄνθρωπον, ηὔχησαν δύνασθαι δη-
μιουργεῖν καὶ φυσηθέντες ὑπ᾽ ἀλαζονείας ἑαυτοὺς
ἐξεθείωσαν, τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς αἴτιον γενέσεως ὄντα
θεὸν παρακαλυψάμενοι, Kaitou γε ἐκ τῶν συνήθων

@ Lit. ‘‘ For the earliest men.”” Here as often in Philo γάρ
refers to the sentence before the last, and gives the reason
why they adopted circumcision. For the attribution of
wisdom to the πρῶτοι ef. De Dec. 23 σοφοὶ yap ἦσαν, though
there, as in De Op. 133, it is concerned with the giving of
names to things. In De Plant. 49 it is as here more general.

104

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 6-10

the earliest men held that the unseen and superior
element to which the concepts of the mind owe their
existence should have assimilated to it the visible and
apparent, the natural parent of the things perceived
by sense. The fourth and most vital reason is its
adaptation to give fertility of offspring, for we are
told that it causes the semen to travel aright without
being scattered or dropped into the folds of the fore-
skin, and therefore the circumcised nations appear to
be the most prolific and-populous.

II. These are the explanations handed down to us
from the old-time studies of divinely gifted men who
made deep research into the writings of Moses. To
these I would add that I consider circumcision to be
a symbol of two things most necessary to our well-
being. One is the excision of pleasures which be-
witch the mind. For since among the love-lures of
pleasure the palm is held by the mating of man and
woman, the legislators thought good to dock the organ
which ministers to such intercourse, thus making
circumcision the figure of the excision of excessive ὃ
and superfluous pleasure, not only of one pleasure
but of all the other pleasures signified by one, and
that the most imperious. The other
reason is that a man should know himself and banish
from the soul the grievous malady of conceit. For
there are some who have prided themselves on their
power of fashioning as with a sculptor’s cunning the
fairest of creatures, man, and in their braggart pride
assumed godship, closing their eyes to the Cause
of all that comes into being, though they might find

ὃ The equation of περιτομή with περιττῆς ἐκτομή is of
course an intentional play upon words; or even perhaps an
etymology.

105

8

9

PHILO

1l ἐπανορθώσασθαι τὴν ἀπάτην δυνάμενοι": πολλοὶ μὲν
γὰρ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς εἰσιν ἄνδρες ἄγονοι, πολλαὶ δὲ
στεῖραι γυναῖκες, ὧν ἀτελεῖς αἱ ὁμιλίαι καταγηρα-
σάντων ἐν ἀπαιδίᾳ. πονηρὰν οὖν δόξαν ἐκτμητέον
τῆς διανοίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὅσαι μὴ φιλόθεοι.

12 Τούτων μὲν δὴ πέρι τοσαῦτα" τρεπτέον δ᾽ ἐπὶ
τοὺς κατὰ μέρος ἤδη νόμους καὶ πρώτους, ἀφ᾽ ὧν

[213] ἄρχεσθαι καλόν, τοὺς περὶ μοναρχίας ὁρισθέντας.

13 , ΠΙ. Τινὲς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους

ἀστέρας ὑπέλαβον εἶναι θεοὺς αὐτοκράτορας, οἷς

τὰς τῶν γινομένων ἁπάντων αἰτίας ἀνέθεσαν.

Μωυσεῖ δ᾽ ὁ κόσμος ἔδοξεν εἶναι καὶ γενητὸς καὶ

καθάπερ πόλις ἡ μεγίστη, ἄρχοντας ἔχουσα καὶ

ὑπηκόους, ἄρχοντας μὲν τοὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ πάντας
ὅσοι πλάνητες καὶ ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρες, ὑπηκόους δὲ
τὰς μετὰ σελήνην ἐν ἀέρι καὶ περιγείους φύσεις"
14 τοὺς δὲ λεχθέντας ἄρχοντας οὐκ αὐτεξουσίους, ἀλλ᾽
ἑνὸς τοῦ πάντων πατρὸς ὑπάρχους, οὗ μιμουμένους
τὴν ἐπιστασίαν κατορθοῦν πρυτανεύοντος κατὰ
δίκην καὶ νόμον ἕκαστον τῶν γεγονότων" τοὺς δὲ
μὴ βλέποντας τὸν ἐπιβεβηκότα ἡνίοχον τοῖς ὑπ-
εζευγμένοις ὡς αὐτουργοῖς τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ γινο-
15 μένων ἀνάψαι τὰς αἰτίας. ὧν τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὁ
ἱερώτατος νομοθέτης εἰς “ἐπιστήμην μεθαρμόζεται
λέγων ὧδε" ᾿ἣ μὴ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον. καὶ τὴν σελήνην
καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ

1 The variant πρυτανεύοντας is adopted by Heinemann, but
see § 207.

* At this point the mss. insert the heading Οἱ περὶ μοναρχίας
νόμοι, ἐ.6.. the laws about the sole sovereignty (of God), and the
chapters which follow down to the end of § 65 are treated by

106

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 11-15

in their familiars a corrective for their delusion. For
in their midst are many men incapable of begetting
and many women barren, whose matings are in-
effective and who grow old childless. The evil belief,
therefore, needs to be excised from the mind with any
others that are not loyal to God.

So much for these matters. We must now turn
to the particular laws, taking those first with which
it is well to begin, namely those the subject of which
is the sole sovereignty of God.

III. *Some have supposed that the sun and moon
and the other stars were gods with absolute powers
and ascribed to them the causation of all events.
But Moses held that the universe was created and
is in a sense the greatest of commonwealths, having
magistrates and subjects ; for magistrates, all the
heavenly bodies, fixed or wandering ; for subjects,
such beings as exist below the moon, in the air or on
the earth. The said magistrates, however, in his view
have not unconditional powers, but are lieutenants
of the one Father of All, and it is by copying the
example of His government exercised according to
law and justice over all created beings that they
acquit themselves aright; but those who do not
descry the Charioteer mounted above attribute the
causation of all the events in the universe to the team
that draw the chariot as though they were sole agents.
From this ignorance our most holy lawgiver would
convert them to knowledge with these words : “ Do
not when thou seest the sun and the moon and the
stars and all the ordered host of heaven go astray and

Mangey and others as a separate treatise. Cohn observes
this in his numeration of the chapters but not of the sections ;
see Gen. Introd. p. xviii. .

107

1

12

18

14

15

16

[214]

17

18

19

20

PHILO

πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς. εὐθυβόλως πάνυ
καὶ καλῶς πλάνον εἶπε τὴν τῶν εἰρημένων ὡς θεῶν
ἀποδοχήν. ot γὰρ ἰδόντες ἡλίου μὲν προσόδοις καὶ
ἀναχωρήσεσι τὰς ἐτησίους ὥρας συνισταμένας, ἐν
αἷς αἱ [ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ καρπῶν γενέσεις
ὡρισμέναις χρόνων περιόδοις τελεσφοροῦνται, σε-
λήνην δ᾽ ὑπηρέτιν καὶ διάδοχον ἡλίου νύκτωρ τὴν
ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ προστασίαν ἀνειληφυῖαν ὧν μεθ᾽
ἡμέραν ἥλιος, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀστέρας κατὰ τὴν
πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια συμπάθειαν μυρία τῶν ἐπὶ διαμονῇ
τοῦ παντὸς ἐνεργοῦντάς τε καὶ δρῶντας, πλάνον
ἐπλανήθησαν ἀνήνυτον μόνους εἶναι τούτους θεοὺς
ὑποτοπήσαντες. εἰ δ᾽ ἐσπούδασαν διὰ τῆς ἀ-
πλανοῦς βαδίζειν ὁδοῦ, κἂν εὐθὺς ἔγνωσαν ὅτι,
καθάπερ αἴσθησις ὑποδιάκονος νοῦ γέγονε, τὸν
αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ οἱ αἰσθητοὶ πάντες ὑπηρέται τοῦ
νοητοῦ κατέστησαν, ἀγαπήσαντες εἰ δευτερείων

3 ’ 4 A 3) 4 ς \ “-
ἐφίξονται. παγγέλοιον γὰρ οἴεσθαι, ὅτι ὁ μὲν νοῦς

3 A ~
ὁ ev ἡμῖν βραχύτατος ὧν καὶ ἀόρατος ἡγεμὼν τῶν
> A > > A \ ¢
αἰσθητικῶν ὀργάνων ἐστίν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ παντὸς ὁ
“ \ λ 4 > \ λ Ἁ λ 4
μέγιστος καὶ τελειότατος οὐχὶ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων
εἶναι πέφυκε, βλεπομένων οὐ βλεπόμενος. πάντας
οὖν τοὺς κατ᾽ οὐρανὸν οὗς αἴσθησις ἐπισκοπεῖ θεοὺς
A \ 4 4
οὐκ αὐτοκρατεῖς νομιστέον, THY ὑπάρχων τάξιν
εἰληφότας, ὑπευθύνους μὲν φύσει γεγονότας, ἕνεκα
ὃ᾽ 3 aA 30 4 9 ς 4 Ψ θ᾽ e 4
ἀρετῆς εὐθύνας ody ὑφέξοντας. ὥσθ᾽ ὑπερβάντες
“- “- A \ \ > \ \ an
τῷ λογισμῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ὁρατὴν οὐσίαν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ
3 “- \ 3 4 \ 4 ’ “A
ἀειδοῦς Kal ἀοράτου Kal μόνῃ διανοίᾳ καταληπτοῦ
τιμὴν ἴωμεν, ὃς οὐ μόνον θεὸς θεῶν ἐστι νοητῶν τε

@ Deut. iv. 19.
108

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 15-20

worship them.”* Well indeed and aptly does he call
the acceptance of the heavenly bodies as gods a going
astray or wandering. For those who see the sun 16
with its advances and retreats producing the yearly
seasons in which the animals and plants and fruits are
brought at fixed periods of time from their birth to
maturity, and the moon as handmaid and successor
to the sun taking over at night the care and super-
vision of all that he had charge of by day, and the
other stars in accordance with their sympathetic
affinity to things on earth acting and working in a
thousand ways for the preservation of the All, have
wandered infinitely far in supposing that they alone
are gods. But if they had been at pains to walk in 17
that road where there is no straying, they would at
once have perceived that just as sense is the servitor
of mind, so too all the beings perceived by sense are
the ministers of Him who is perceived by the mind.
It is enough for them if they gain the second place.
For it is quite ridiculous to deny that if the mind in 18
us, so exceedingly small and invisible, is yet the ruler
of the organs of sense, the mind of the universe, so
transcendently great and perfect, must be the King
of kings who are seen by Him though He is not seen
by them. So all the gods which sense descries in 19
Heaven must not be supposed to possess absolute
power but to have received the rank of subordinate
rulers, naturally liable to correction, though in virtue
of their excellence never destined to undergo it.
Therefore carrying our thoughts beyond all the realm 20
of visible existence let us proceed to give honour to
the Immaterial, the Invisible, the Apprehended by
the understanding alone, who is not only God of
gods, whether perceived by sense or by mind, but

109

2]

22

23

[215]

PHILO

καὶ αἰσθητῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων δημιουργός. ἐὰν
δέ τις τὴν τοῦ ἀιδίου καὶ ποιητοῦ θεραπείαν ἄλλῳ
προσνέμῃ νεωτέρῳ καὶ “γενητῷ, φρενοβλαβὴς ava-
γεγράφθω καὶ ἔνοχος ace cig τῇ μεγίστῃ.

IV. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες OL χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον ἀνδριαν-
τοποιοῖς ὡς θεοπλαστεῖν ἱκανοῖς παρέδοσαν" οἱ δὲ
λαβόντες ἀργὴν ὕλην θνητῷ παραδείγματι προσ-
χρησάμενοι, τὸ παραλογώτατον, θεοὺς ὅ ὅσα τῷ δοκεῖν
ἐμόρφωσαν- καὶ νεὼς κατασκευάσαντες καὶ ἱδρυσά-
μενοι βωμοὺς ἐδείμαντο' θυσίαις τε καὶ πομπαῖς καὶ
ταῖς ἄλλαις ἱερουργίαις τε καὶ ἁγιστείαις ἐπιμελῶς
πάνυ καὶ πεφροντισμένως γεραίρουσιν, ἱερέων τε
καὶ ἱερειῶν τὸν περὶ ταῦτα τῦφον ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα
σεμνοποιούντων. οἷς ὁ τῶν ὅλων πατὴρ προ-
αγορεύει λέγων" “od ποιήσετε μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ" θεοὺς
ἀργυροῦς καὶ χρυσοῦς, "μόνον οὐκ ἄντικρυς ἀνα-
διδάσκων, ὅτι οὐδ᾽ ἐξ ἑτέρας ὕλης χειρόκμητον
οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν θεοπλαστήσετε διακωλυθέντες ἐκ
τῶν ἀρίστων" ἄργυρος γὰρ καὶ χρυσὸς τὰ πρωτεῖα
τῶν ἐν ὕλαις ἔρονται. ίχα δὲ τῆς ῥητῆς
ἀπαγορεύσεως καὶ ἕτερον αἰνίττεσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τῶν
πρὸς ἠθοποιΐαν μάλιστα συντεινόντων, διελέγχων
οὐ μετρίως τοὺς φιλοχρημάτους, | οἱ πανταχόθεν
μὲν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον ἐκπορίζουσι, τὸ δὲ

1 Perhaps omit ἐδείμαντο : the sentence is clearer without it.

2 MSS. μετ᾽ ἐμὲ or ἐμοὶ or ὑμῖν or omit. Cohn’s adoption
of μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ is based on Leg. All. i. 51, where the verse is
quoted in most mss. with per’ ἐμοῦ, but in one per’ ἐμὲ. The
Lxx has ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς. In this uncertainty I print Cohn’s text,
but cannot follow his reasoning. Philo does not by any
means always keep the same form in his quotations.

« Here Philo begins the consideration of the second com-
mandment, though no special heading is given in the mss.

110

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 20-23

also the Maker of all. And if anyone renders the
worship due to the Eternal, the Creator, to a created
being and one later in time, he must stand recorded
as infatuated and guilty of impiety in the highest
degree.

IV. * There are some who put gold and silver in the
hands of sculptors as though they were competent to
fashion gods; and the sculptors taking the crude
material and furthermore using mortal form for their
model, to crown the absurdity shape gods, as they
are supposed to be. And after erecting and estab-
lishing temples they have built altars and in their
honour hold sacrifices and processions with other re-
ligious rites and ceremonies conducted with the most
elaborate care, and the vain shew is treated by priests
and priestesses with the utmost possible solemnity.
Such idolaters are warned by the Ruler of All in these
words: “ Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver
and gold,’ and the lesson conveyed is little less than
a direct command,? “ Neither shall ye make gods the
work of your hands from any other material if you
are prevented from using the best,’ for silver and
gold hold first place among the sculptor’s materials.

But apart from the literal prohibition,
He seems to me to suggest another thought of great
value for the promotion of morality,* and to condemn
strongly the money-lovers who procure gold and silver
coins from every side and treasure their hoard like a

ὃ Ex. xx. 23. The argument appears to be “if gold and
silver idols are forbidden, still more are idols of inferior
materials.”

¢ 2,6. in the sphere of human conduct, as opposed to our
relation to God, to which the commandment in the literal
sense belongs. Cf. the antithesis of 7@cc7-and φυσική (in the
sense of theological), Mos. ii. 96.

111

21

22

24

25

PHILO

A e BJA A 9 9 4
πορισθὲν ws ἄγαλμα θεῖον ἐν ἀδύτοις θησαυρο-
φυλακοῦσιν, ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον καὶ τῆς συμπάσης εὐ-
δαιμονίας τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι νομίζοντες. καὶ ὅσοι μέντοι
τῶν ἀπόρων κεκράτηνται χαλεπῇ νόσῳ, φιλαργυρίᾳ,
A

οὐκ ἔχοντες ἴδιον πλοῦτον, ὃν θεραπείας ἀξιώσουσι,
τὸν τῶν πλησίον τεθηπότες καὶ προσκυνοῦντες

¢ ~ > “-«
ἕωθεν εἰς τὰς τῶν περιουσιαζόντων οἰκίας ἀφικνοῦν-
\
ται καθάπερ εἰς ἱερὰ μέγιστα, προσευξόμενοι καὶ
τἀγαθὰ παρὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν ὡς θεῶν αἰτησόμενοι.
πρὸς οὗς καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις φησίν" “᾿ οὐκ ἐπακολου-
VA ᾽

θήσετε εἰδώλοις καὶ θεοὺς χωνευτοὺς οὐ ποιήσετε;
A 4 > 4 ¢ 4 \
διὰ συμβόλων ἀναδιδάσκων, ὅτι πλούτῳ τιμὰς
> > 4 \ e
ἰσοθέους ἀπονέμειν οὐ προσήκει: πλούτου yap at
Ὁ ‘\ A /
περιβόητοι ὗλαι χρυσὸς Kal ἄργυρος χεῖσθαι πεφύ-

@ “A e A /
κασιν, ais ἀκολουθοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ τοῦ λεγομένου

“~ 4 4 nv 4 . 9 ’ 3
τυφλοῦ πλούτου μόνα ἢ μάλιστα εὐδαιμονίας αἴτια

26 νομίζοντες. τάδ᾽ ἐστὶν ἅ φησιν “ εἴδωλα,᾽᾿ σκιαῖς

ἐοικότα καὶ φάσμασιν, οὐδενὸς ἠρτημένα ἰσχυροῦ
καὶ βεβαίου: φέρεται γὰρ πνεύματος τρόπον ἀ-
στάτου τροπὰς καὶ μεταβολὰς παντοίας ἐνδεχόμενα.
σημεῖον δ᾽ ἐστὶ τούτων ἐναργές" μὴ προλαβόντων
ἐξαπιναίως ἔστιν ὅτε προσέπτη, παγίως ἐνειλῆφθαι
νομιζόντων πάλιν ἀπεπήδησε, καὶ ὅτε μέντοι
πάρεστι, καθάπερ τὰ διὰ τῶν κατόπτρων εἴδωλα
φαντάζεται τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀπατῶντα καὶ καταγοη-

1 This is the reading of two out of four mss. supported by
κεῖσθαι of the other two. Cohn, relying on the superior
authority of R, on which see Gen. Introd. pp. xv f., prints

εἶναι. I have retained χεῖσθαι, as it seems to me needed to
bring out the full sense.

ω Lev. ΧΙΧ. 4,

112

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 23-26

divine image in a sanctuary, believing it to be a
source of blessing and happiness of every kind. And 24
further, all the needy who are possessed by that
grievous malady, the desire for money, though they
have no wealth of their own on which they may
bestow worship as its due, pay awe-struck homage to
that of their neighbours, and come at early dawn to
the houses of those who have abundance of it as
though they were the grandest temples, there to
make their prayers and beg for blessing from the
masters as though they were gods. To such he says 25
elsewhere “‘ Ye shall not follow idols and ye shall not
make molten gods,’’” thus teaching them in a figure
that it is not fitting to assign divine honours to wealth.
For it is the nature of the far-famed materials of
wealth, gold and silver, to melt,’ and they are followed
by the multitude who think that what “blind ”’¢
wealth has to give is the sole or the chief source of
happiness. It is these that he calls “ idols,” like to 26
shadows and phantoms, with nothing firm or strong
to which they can cling. They are borne along like
a restless wind, subject to every kind of change and
alteration. And of this we have a clear proof. Some-
times they suddenly light on one who has never
owned them ere now: then again, when he thinks
that they are firmly grasped, they spring away. And
indeed when they are present, the apparition is like
idols or images seen through mirrors, deceiving and

> The argument is “‘ since gold and silver, substances which
melt, are the chief materials of the phantom wealth, idols (7.e.
phantoms) and molten gods may be understood to indicate
riches.”’ If εἶναι is read instead of χεῖσθαι, the point of χωνευ-
τούς is lost.

ὁ The addition of λεγομένου indicates that the phrase is
proverbial or a quotation. See App. pp. 615-616.

VOL. VII I 113

PHILO

τεύοντα καὶ ὡς ἂν ὑφεστηκότα τὰ μὴ ὑπομένοντα.

27 καὶ τί δεῖ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον πλοῦτον ἢ τῦφον, ὃν
ἀναζωγραφοῦσιν αἱ κεναὶ δόξαι, δηλοῦν ὡς ἔστιν
ἀβέβαιος; ἤδη γάρ τινες καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ζῷα
καὶ φυτά, ὧν γένεσίς ἐστι καὶ φθορά, συνεχῶς μὲν
καὶ ἀπαύστως φασὶ ῥεῖσθαι, τῆς δ᾽ ἀπορροίας
ἀδηλοτέραν αἴσθησιν εἶναι, ἀεὶ νικώσης τῆς περὶ
τὴν ῥύσιν' ὀξύτητος τὴν δι᾿ ὄψεως ἀκριβῆ προσ-
βολήν.

28 V. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐ μόνον πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα καὶ τὰ
τοιοῦτα εἴδωλα καὶ ἀμενηναὶ σκιαΐ, ἀλλὰ καὶ
πάντες, οὗς οἱ μυθογράφοι διαπλάσαντες ἐξ-
ετύφωσαν ἐπιτειχίσαντες τὰς ψευδεῖς. δόξας κατὰ
τῆς ἀληθείας, θεοὺς καινοὺς ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς
εἰσαγαγόντες ἕνεκα τοῦ τὸν ἀΐδιον καὶ ὄντα ὄντως
θεὸν λήθῃ παραδοθῆναι. πρὸς δὲ τὸ εὐπαράγωγον
μέλεσι καὶ ῥυθμοῖς καὶ μέτροις ἐνηρμόσαντο τὸ
ψεῦδος, νομίζοντες ῥᾳδίως καταγοητεύσειν τοὺς
29 ἐντυγχάνοντας. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πλαστικὴν καὶ
[216] ζωγραφίαν συνεργοὺς τῆς ἀπάτης | προσπαρέλαβον,
ἵνα χρωμάτων καὶ σχημάτων καὶ ποιοτήτων εὖ
εδημιουργημέναις ἰδέαις ὑπαγάγωνται τοὺς ὁρῶν-
τας καὶ τὰς ἡγεμονίδας αἰσθήσεις ὄψιν καὶ ἀκοὴν
δελεάσαντες, τὴν “μὲν ἀψύχοις εὐμορφίαις, τὴν δ᾽
εὐφωνίᾳ ποιητικῇ, συναρπάσωσι τὴν ψυχὴν ἀ-

80 βέβαιον καὶ ἀνίδρυτον αὐτὴν ἀπεργασάμενοι. διὰ

1 Mss. φύσιν or φορὰν.
2 Cohn suggests (μῦθοι) πάντες, and so apparently Heine-
mann. It seems to me needless and less forcible. ΟἿ ii. 164

θεῶν... οὗς τὸ ποιητικὸν γένος ἐμύθευσε. Mangey reads
with two mss. ἄλλαι ἀπάται ἃς.

¢ Particularly Heracleitus and his followers. See App.
p. 616.

114

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 26-29

bewitching the sense and seeming to subsist when
they have no abiding substance. And why need we 27
prove that human riches or human vanity, which
empty-headed thinking paints in such bright colours,
are unstable? For we know that some ® assert that
all other living creatures and plants which are born
and perish are in a constant and ceaseless state of
flux, though our perception of the effluence is indis-
tinct, because the swiftness of its course always de-
feats the efforts of the eyesight to observe it with
exactness.

V. But not only wealth and glory and the like 28
are idols and unsubstantial shadows, but also all
those personages, which the myth-makers have
invented and spread delusion therewith, building up
their false imaginations into a stronghold to menace
the truth, and staging as by machinery? new gods,
in order that the eternal and really existing God
might be consigned to oblivion. And to promote
the seductiveness they have fitted the falsehood into
melody, metre and rhythm,’ thinking to cajole their
audience thereby. Further, too, they have brought 29
in sculpture and painting to co-operate in the decep-
tion, in order that with the colours and shapes and
artistic qualities wrought by their fine workmanship
they may enthrall the spectators and so beguile the
two leading senses, sight and hearing—sight through
lifeless shapes of beauty, hearing through the charm
of poetry and music—and thus make the soul un-
steady and unsettled and seize it for their prey.

ὃ I do not know how to translate this phrase. It is said to
denote “ἃ sudden or unexpected event,” but this seems to
me inadequate. See App. p. 616.

¢ The regular triple division of music. See note on De
Som. i. 205.

115

31

32

PHILO

τοῦτ᾽ ἐπιστάμενος ἐπὶ μέγα δυνάμεως προελη-
λυθότα τὸν τῦφον καὶ δορυφορούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ
πλείστου γένους ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀλλ᾽
ἑκουσίοις γνώμαις, εὐλαβηθεὶς μή ποτε καὶ ob
ζηλωταὶ τῆς ἀδεκάστου καὶ ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας
καθάπερ ὑπὸ χειμάρρου “παρασυρῶσιν, ἐνσφραγί-
ἵεται βαθεῖς τύπους ταῖς διανοίαις ἐγχαράττων
ὁσιότητος, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ συγχυθέντας ἢ ἐπιλεαν-
θέντας ἀμαυρωθῆναί ποτε χρόνῳ, καὶ “συνεχῶς
ἐπάδει ποτὲ μὲν. λέγων ὅτι θεὸς εἷς ἐστι καὶ κτίστης
καὶ ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων, ποτὲ δὲ ὅτι κύριος τῶν
γεγονότων, ἐπειδὴ τὸ βέβαιον καὶ πάγιον καὶ τὸ
κῦρος ὡς ἀληθῶς περὶ αὐτὸν μόνον πέφυκε. λέ-
λεκται δ᾽ ὅτι “ οἱ προσκείμενοι τῷ ὄντι θεῷ ζῶσι
πάντες. Gp οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὃ τρισμακάριος καὶ
τρισευδαίμων βίος, ἁ ἀγαπητικῶς ἔχεσθαι τῆς θερα-
πείας τοῦ πρεσβυτάτου πάντων αἰτίου καὶ μὴ τοὺς
ὑποδιακόνους καὶ πυλωροὺς πρὸ τοῦ βασιλέως
θεραπεύειν ἀξιοῦν; ἀθάνατος ἧδε ἡ ζωὴ καὶ μα-
κραίων ἐν ταῖς τῆς φύσεως στήλαις ἀναγέγραπται"
ταυτὶ δὲ τὰ γράμματα τῷ κόσμῳ συνδιαιωνίζειν
ἀναγκαῖον.

VI. Δυστόπαστος μὲν οὖν καὶ δυσκατάληπτος ὁ
πατὴρ καὶ ἡγεμὼν τῶν συμπάντων ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ
διὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἀποκνητέον τὴν ζήτησιν αὐτοῦ. δύο δ᾽
ἐν ταῖς περὶ θεοῦ ζητήσεσι τὰ ἀνωτάτω ταῦτ᾽
ἐπαπορεῖ ἡ διάνοια τοῦ φιλοσοφοῦντος ἀνόθως" ἕν
μὲν εἰ ἔστι τὸ θεῖον, ἕνεκα τῶν ἐπιτηδευσάντων
ἀθεότητα, κακιῶν τὴν μεγίστην: ἕτερον δὲ τὸ τί
ἐστι κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρότερον οὐ

α Deut. iv. 4. The meaning of the original is that all those
116

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 30-32

Therefore knowing that vanity had attained high 30
power and was championed by the greater part of
the human race, not under compulsion but of their
own free will, and fearing lest the devotees of piety,
true and incorruptible, might be swept away as by a
torrent, he stamped upon their minds as with a seal
deep imprints of holiness, so that no fusion or smooth-
ing in the course of years should ever blur their dis-
tinctness. This lesson he continually repeats, some-
times saying that God is one and the Framer and
Maker of all things, sometimes that He is Lord of
created beings, because stability and fixity and lord-
ship are by nature vested in Him alone. We are 31
told, too, that “‘ those who cling to the God that 1s
all live.””* Is not this the thrice-happy and thrice-
blessed life, to cling lovingly to the service of the most
ancient Cause of all and to reject the thought of
serving the menials and the door-keepers rather than
the King? This true life stands inscribed on the tables
of nature as deathless and agelong, and the writing
that records it must endure with the universe to all
eternity.

VI. Doubtless hard to unriddle and hard to ap- 32
prehend is the Father and Ruler of all, but that is no
reason why we should shrink from searching for Him.
But in such searching two principal questions arise
which demand the consideration of the genuine
philosopher. One is whether the Deity exists, a
question necessitated by those who practise atheism,
the worst form of wickedness, the other is what the
Deity isin essence. Now to answer the first question

who took God’s side when the others followed Baal Peor are
still alive. Philo has given the same extension of the meaning
in De Fuga 56, and again in § 345 below.

117

PHILO

ἊἋ Δ 4 9 A A \ / 9 A 4
πολὺς πόνος ἰδεῖν, TO δὲ δεύτερον οὐ χαλεπὸν μόνον

“9 A Vom” 3 ᾽ > 4 > e 4
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἴσως ἀδύνατον. ἐπισκεπτέον δ᾽ EKATEPOV.

33 ἀεὶ τοίνυν γνωρίσματα τῶν δημιουργῶν πέφυκέ πως

[217]

εἶναι τὰ δημιουργηθέντα- τίς γὰρ ἀνδριάντας ἢ
γραφὰς θεασάμενος οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐνενόησεν ἀνδριαντο-
ποιὸν ἢ ζωγράφον; τίς δὲ ἐσθῆτας ἢ ναῦς ἢ
οἰκίας ἰδὼν οὐκ ἔννοιαν ἔλαβεν ὑφάντου καὶ ναυ-
πηγοῦ καὶ ᾿οἰκοδόμου; παρελθὼν δέ τις εἰς πόλιν
εὔνομον, ἐν ἧ τὰ τῆς πολιτείας σφόδρα καλῶς
διακεκόσμηται, τί ἕτερον ὑπολήψεται ἢ ὅτι ἐπ-
ιστατεῖται ἥδε ἡ πόλις ὑπ᾽ ἀρχόντων | ἀγαθῶν;

34 τὸν οὖν ἀφικόμενον εἰς τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς μεγαλόπολιν,
4

35

36

\
τόνδε TOV κόσμον, καὶ θεασάμενον τὴν ὀρεινὴν Kat

πεδιάδα βρίθουσαν' ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ ποταμῶν

αὐθιγενῶν καὶ χειμάρρων φορὰς καὶ πελαγῶν
4 \

ἀναχύσεις καὶ εὐκρασίας ἀέρος καὶ τῶν ἐτησίων
ὡρῶν τροπάς, εἶτα ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, τοὺς ἡμέρας
καὶ νυκτὸς ἡγεμόνας, καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων πλανήτων
τε καὶ ἀπλανῶν καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος οὐρανοῦ περι-
πολήσεις καὶ χορείας, οὐκ εἰκότως, μᾶλλον δὲ
ἀναγκαίως, ἔννοιαν λήψεσθαι δεῖ τοῦ ποιητοῦ καὶ
πατρὸς καὶ προσέτι ἡγεμόνος; οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν
τεχνικῶν ἔργων ἀπαυτοματίζεται:" τεχνικώτατον δὲ
καὶ ἐπιστημονικώτατον ὅδε ὁ ὁ κόσμος, ὡς ὑπό Twos
τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀγαθοῦ καὶ τελειοτάτου πάντως
δεδημιουργῆσθαι. τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἔννοιαν
ἐλάβομεν ὑπάρξεως θεοῦ.

VII. Τὴν δ᾽ οὐσίαν, εἰ καὶ δυσθήρατον καὶ

1 So Cohn from R in preference to the πλήθουσαν or
πληθύουσαν of the other mss. It seems to me doubtful. βρίθω
more especially = “laden with,” and so Philo, De Op. 85
κριοὶ βρίθοντες βαθέσι μαλλοῖς.

118

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 32-36

does not need much labour, but the second is not
only difficult but perhaps impossible to solve. Still,
both must be examined. *We see then that any 33
piece of work always involves the knowledge of a
workman. Who can look upon statutes or painting
without thinking at once of a sculptor or painter?
Who can see clothes or ships or houses without getting
the idea of a weaver and a shipwright and a house-
builder ? And when one enters a well-ordered city
in which the arrangements for civil life are very
admirably managed, what else will he suppose but
that this city is directed by good rulers? So then 34
he who comes to the truly Great City, this world, and
beholds hills and plains teeming with animals and
plants, the rivers, spring-fed or winter torrents,
streaming along, the seas with their expanses, the
air with its happily tempered phases, the yearly
seasons passing into each other,’ and then the sun and
moon ruling the day and night, and the other heavenly
bodies fixed or planetary and the whole firmament
revolving in rhythmic order, must he not naturally or
rather necessarily gain the conception of the Maker
and Father and Ruler also? For none of the works 35
of human art is self-made, and the highest art and
knowledge is shewn in this universe, so that surely
it has been wrought by one of excellent knowledge
and absolute perfection. In this way we have gained
the conception of the existence of God.

VII. As for the divine essence, though in fact it is 36

* For illustration of the argument in this and the next
section see App. p. 616.

Ὁ For this use of τροπαί for the transitions of the four
seasons rather than for the two solstices cf. τροπὰς τέσσαρας
Mos. ii. 124, |

119

PHILO

δυσκατάληπτον εἶναι συμβέβηκεν, ὃ ὅμως καθ᾽ ὅσον
ἐνδέχεται διερευνητέον. ἄμεινον γὰρ οὐδὲν τοῦ
ζητεῖν τὸν ἀληθῆ θεόν, κἂν ἡ εὕρεσις. αὐτοῦ δια-
φεύγῃ δύναμιν ἀνθρωπίνην, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἡ περὶ τὸ
βούλεσθαι μαθεῖν σπουδὴ Kal? αὑτὴν ἀλέκτους
37 ἡδονὰς καὶ εὐφροσύνας ἐργάζεται. μάρτυρες δὲ οἵ
μὴ χείλεσιν ἄκροις γευσάμενοι φιλοσοφίας, ἀλλὰ
τῶν λόγων καὶ δογμάτων αὐτῆς ἐπὶ πλέον ἑστια-
θέντες: τούτων γὰρ ὁ λογισμὸς ἀπὸ γῆς ἄνω
μετέωρος ἀρθεὶς αἰθεροβατεὶ καὶ συμπεριπολῶν
ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ τῷ σύμπαντι οὐρανῷ, τἀκεῖ
πάντα γλιχόμενος ἰδεῖν, ἀμυδροτέραις χρῆται ταῖς
προσβολαῖς, ἀκράτου Ran πολλοῦ φέγγους ἐκ-
χεομένου, ὡς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ¢ ὄμμα ταῖς μαρμαρυγαῖς
38 σκοτοδινιᾶν. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο προκαμὼν ἀπ-
αγορεύει, γνώμῃ δ᾽ ἀηττήτῳ πρὸς τὴν ἐνδεχομένην
θέαν ἵ εἷεται, καθάπερ. ἐν ἄθλοις δευτερείων μετα-
ποιούμενος, ἐπειδὴ τῶν πρώτων ἐσφάλη. φαντασίας
δ᾽ ἀληθοῦς δεύτερά ἐστιν εἰκασία καὶ στοχασμὸς
καὶ ὅσα εἰς τὴν τῶν εὐλόγων καὶ πιθανῶν ἰδέαν
39 ἀνάγεται. καθάπερ οὖν οἷός ἐστι τῶν ἀστέρων
ἕκαστος κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν εἱλικρινῶς οὔτ᾽ εἰδότες
οὔτε δυνάμενοι σαφῶς διαγνῶναι ζητεῖν ὅμως
προθυμούμεθα, τερπόμενοι τοῖς εἰκόσι λόγοις ἕνεκα
40 τοῦ φύσει φιλομαθοῦς, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, εἰ καὶ τῆς
κατὰ τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν ἐναργοῦς φαντασίας
ἀμοιροῦμεν, ὀφείλομεν μὴ ἀπολείπεσθαι τῆς ζητή-
σεως αὐτοῦ, διὰ τὸ τὴν σκέψιν καὶ ἄνευ τῆς εὑρέ-
σεως καθ' αὑτὴν τριπόθητον εἶναι, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὺς
[218] τοῦ | σώματος ὀφθαλμοὺς οὐδεὶς αἰτιᾶται, παρόσον
ἥ tov αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν ἀδυνατοῦντες τὴν φερομένην
ἀπόρροιαν τῶν ἀκτίνων ἐπὶ γῆν ὁρῶσιν, ἡλιακῶν
120

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 36-40

hard to track and hard to apprehend, it still calls for
all the inquiry possible. For nothing is better than
to search for the true God, even if the discovery of
Him eludes human capacity, since the very wish to
learn, if earnestly entertained, produces untold joys
and pleasures. We have the testimony of those who 37
have not taken a mere sip of philosophy but have
feasted more abundantly on its reasonings and con-
clusions. For with them the reason soars away from
earth into the heights, travels through the upper air
and accompanies the revolutions of the sun and moon
and the whole heaven and in its desire to see all that
is there finds its powers of sight blurred, for so pure
and vast is the radiance that pours therefrom that
the soul’s eye is dizzied by the flashing of the rays.
Yet it does not therefore faintheartedly give up the 38
task, but with purpose unsubdued presses onwards
to such contemplation as is possible, like the athlete
who strives for the second prize since he has been
disappointed of the first. Now second to the true
vision stands conjecture and theorizing and all that
can be brought into the category of reasonable
probability. So then just as, though we do not know 39
and cannot with certainty determine what each of the
stars is in the purity of its essence, we eagerly persist
in the search because our natural love of learning _
makes us delight in what seems probable, so too, 40
though the clear vision of God as He really is is denied
us, we ought not to relinquish the quest. For the
very seeking, even without finding, is felicity in itself,
just as no one blames the eyes of the body because
when unable to see the sun itself they see the emana-
tion of its rays as it reaches the earth, which is but
the extremity of the brightness which the beams of

121

PHILO

41 αὐγῶν ἔσχατον φέγγος. VIII. εἰς ἅπερ
ἀπιδὼν ὁ ἱεροφάντης καὶ θεοφιλέστατος Μωυσῆς
ἱκετεύει τὸν θεὸν λέγων. ‘‘ ἐμφάνισόν μοι σαυτόν,
μόνον οὐ κατασχεθεὶς καὶ ἐκβοῶν ἄντικρυς, ὅτι
“τοῦ μὲν εἶναί σε καὶ ὑπάρχειν διδάσκαλος καὶ
ὑφηγητής μοι γέγονεν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος, καὶ ὡς υἱὸς
ἀναδιδάξας με περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ὡς ἔργον περὶ
τοῦ τεχνίτου" τίς δὲ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν τυγχάνεις ὧν
διαγνῶναι ποθῶν οὐδένα τούτου τοῦ μαθήματος
ὑφηγητὴν ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν τοῦ παντὸς μερῶν ἀν-

42 ευρίσκω. διὸ δὴ δέομαι καὶ ποτνιῶμαι προσέσθαι
τὴν ἱκεσίαν ἀνδρὸς ἱκέτου καὶ φιλοθέου καὶ μόνον
σὲ θεραπεύειν ἀξιοῦντος" ὡς γὰρ τὸ φῶς ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρου
μὴ γνωριζόμενον αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ γνώρισμα ἐστιν,
οὕτως καὶ σὺ σεαυτὸν μόνος ἂν φῆναι δύναιο. διὸ.
συγγνώμης ἀξιῶ τυχεῖν, εἰ σπάνει τοῦ διδάξοντος
ἐπὶ σὲ καταφυγεῖν ἐθάρρησα περὶ σοῦ σπεύδων

43 μαθεῖν. ὁ δὲ ‘ τὴν μὲν προθυμίαν ᾿᾿ φησίν “᾿ ἐπαι-
νετὴν οὖσαν ἀποδέχομαι, τὸ δ᾽ αἴτημα οὐδενὶ τῶν
εἰς γένεσιν ἡκόντων ἐφαρμόζει. χαρίζομαι δ᾽ ἐγὼ
τὰ οἰκεῖα τῷ ληψομένῳ: οὐ γὰρ ὅσα μοι δοῦναι
ῥᾷάδιον καὶ ἀνθρώπῳ λαβεῖν δυνατόν: ὅθεν ὀρέγω
τῷ χάριτος ἀξίῳ πάσας ὅσας ἂν οἷός τε ἢ δέξασθαι

44 δωρεάς. τὴν δ᾽ ἐμὴν κατάληψιν οὐχ οἷον ἀνθρώπου
φύσις ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὁ σύμπας οὐρανός τε καὶ κόσμος

α §§ 41-50 are a meditation on Ex. xxxiii. 13-23. The
divine answer to the first petition, “‘ Reveal thyself to me’
(υ. 13), is not reproduced by Philo, but the words of § 43, “I
freely bestow,” etc., are an interpretation of part of God’s
answer to the second petition, “1 will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew

122

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 41-44

the sun give forth. VIII. It was this 11
which Moses the sacred guide, most dearly beloved
of God, had before his eyes when he besought God
with the words, ‘‘ Reveal Thyself to me.”* In these
words we may almost hear plainly the inspired cry
‘ This universe has been my teacher, to bring me to
the knowledge that Thou art and dost subsist. As
Thy son, it has told me of its Father, as Thy work of its
contriver. But what Thou art in Thy essence I desire
to understand, yet find in no part of the All any to
guide me to this knowledge. ‘Therefore I pray and 42
beseech Thee to accept the supplication of a sup-
pliant, a lover of God, one whose mind is set to serve
Thee alone ; for as knowledge of the light does not
come by any other source but what itself supplies,
so too Thou alone canst tell me of Thyself. Where-
fore I crave pardon if, for lack of a teacher, I venture
to appeal to Thee in my desire to learn of Thee.”
He replies, ‘ Thy zeal I approve as praiseworthy, but 43
the request cannot fitly be granted to any that are
brought into being by creation. I freely bestow
what is in accordance with the recipient ; for not all
that I can give with ease is within man’s power to
take, and therefore to him that is worthy of My grace
I extend all the boons which he is capable of receiving.
But the apprehension of Me is something more than 44
human nature, yea even the whole heaven and
mercy.” In the second petition (v. 18), which Philo reads,
in accordance with some mss. of the txx, as “‘Shew me thy
glory” (so also E.V.), glory is interpreted to mean the
Powers as distinguished from the Self-existent, and God’s
answer, “ Thou shalt see the things behind me,” Lxx τὰ ὀπίσω
μου (A.V. “ my back parts,” R.V. “τὴν back ’’), is taken to
mean ‘*‘ Thou shalt see what lies behind the Powers, 7.e. their

manifestation in the sensible world.”’ The same interpretation
of the verse is given in De Fuga 165, De Mut. 9, De Post. 169.

123

PHILO

δυνήσεται χωρῆσαι. γνῶθι δὴ σαυτὸν καὶ μὴ
συνεκφέρου ταῖς ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ὁρμαῖς καὶ ἐπιθυ-
μίαις, μηδέ σε τῶν ἀνεφίκτων ἔρως αἰρέτω καὶ
μετεωριζέτω: τῶν γὰρ ἐφικτῶν οὐδενὸς ἀμοιρή-

3) A > 4 > A 4
45 σεις. ταῦτα ἀκούσας ἐπὶ δευτέραν

e 4 Ss 4 66 4 \ aA A
ἱκεσίαν ἦλθε καί φησι" “᾿ πέπεισμαι μὲν Tats σαῖς
e 4 Lv 3 nA ” 4 A A “A
ὑφηγήσεσιν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἴσχυσα δέξασθαι TO τῆς σῆς
φαντασίας ἐναργὲς εἶδος. ἱκετεύω δὲ τὴν γοῦν περὶ
A / 4 / A \ > 4 A
σὲ δόξαν θεάσασθαι: δόξαν δὲ σὴν εἶναι νομίζω τὰς
περὶ σὲ δορυφορούσας δυνάμεις, ὧν διαφεύγουσα ἡ
κατάληψις ἃ ἄχρι τοῦ παρόντος οὐ μικρὸν ἐνεργάζεταί

46 μοι πόθον τῆς διαγνώσεως. ὁ δὲ ἀμείβεται καί

47

[219]

48

oA 93 aA , > AN 5.9 \
φησιν" “᾿ ἃς ἐπιζητεῖς δυνάμεις εἰσὶν ἀόρατοι καὶ
νοηταὶ πάντως ἐμοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου καὶ νοητοῦ: λέγω

\ “A
δὲ νοητὰς οὐχὶ TAS’ ἤδη ὑπὸ νοῦ καταλαμβανομένας,
3 > ῳ 9 4 @ » > 3 nv
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι εἰ καταλαμβάνεσθαι οἷαί τε elev, οὐκ ἂν
, > A
αἴσθησις αὐτὰς ἀλλ᾽ ἀκραιφνέστατος νοῦς κατα-
λαμβάνοι. πεφυκυῖαι δ᾽ ἀκατάληπτοι κατὰ τὴν
οὐσίαν ὅμως παραφαίνουσιν ἐκμαγεῖόν τι καὶ ἀπ-
ειἰκόνισμα τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐνεργείας" οἷαι αἱ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν
σφραγῖδες --ὅταν (γὰρ) προσενεχθῇ κηρὸς ἢ τις
ὁμοιότροπος ὕλη, μυρίους ὅσους τύπους ἐναπομάτ-
τονται, μηδὲν ἀκρωτηριασθεῖσαι μέρος, | ἀλλ᾽ ἐν
ὁμοίῳ μένουσαι,---τοιαύτας ὑποληπτέον καὶ τὰς
περὶ ἐμὲ δυνάμεις περιποιούσας ἀποίοις ποιότητας
\ \ > 4 \ \ “ 9 4 4

καὶ μορφὰς ἀμόρφοις καὶ μηδὲν τῆς ἀιδίου φύσεως
μήτ᾽ ἀλλαττομένας μήτε μειουμένας. ὀνομάζουσι

1 For οὐχὶ τὰς I suggest οὐχ ws. See note a.

α This must be the meaning if the text is to stand, but what
are “the powers which are now discerned by mind”? The

124

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 44-47

universe will be able to contain. Know thyself, then,
and do not be led away by impulses and desires beyond
thy capacity, nor let yearning for the unattainable
uplift and carry thee off thy feet, for of the obtainable
nothing shall be denied thee.” When 45
Moses heard this, he addressed to Him a second
petition and said, “1 bow before Thy admonitions,
that I never could have received the vision of Thee
clearly manifested, but I beseech Thee that I may at
least see the glory that surrounds Thee, and by Thy
glory I understand the powers that keep guard around
Thee, of whom I would fain gain apprehension, for
though hitherto that has escaped me, the thought of
it creates in me a mighty longing to have knowledge
of them.” To this He answers, ‘‘ The powers which 46
thou seekest to know are discerned not by sight but
by mind even as I, Whose they are, am discerned by
mind and not by sight, and when I say ‘ they are dis-
cerned by mind ’ I speak not of those ὦ which are now
actually apprehended by mind but mean that if these
other powers could be apprehended it would not be
by sense but by mind at its purest. But while in their 47
essence they are beyond your apprehension, they
nevertheless present to your sight a sort of impress
and copy of their active working. You men have
for your use seals which when brought into contact
with wax or similar material stamp on them any
number of impressions while they themselves are not
docked in any part thereby but remain as they were.
Such you must conceive My powers to be, supplying
quality and shape to things which lack either and yet
changing or lessening nothing of their eternal nature.

sense to be expected is “1 do not mean that they are now
discerned,’’ and so Heinemann and Mangey.

125

PHILO

> 9 A 3 \ A A > aA 99 7
δ᾽ αὐτὰς οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ τινες τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἰδέας,
ἐπειδὴ ἕκαστα τῶν ὄντων εἰδοποιοῦσι' τὰ ἄτακτα
9 ’
τάττουσαι καὶ τὰ ἄπειρα καὶ ἀόριστα καὶ ἀσχημά-
“- ’
τιστα περατοῦσαι καὶ περιορίζουσαι καὶ σχηματί-
\ \ aA 3 \ 3
ζουσαι καὶ συνόλως τὸ χεῖρον εἰς τὸ ἄμεινον
On ~ 7 A
49 μεθαρμοζόμεναι. μήτ᾽ οὖν ἐμὲ μήτε τινὰ τῶν ἐμῶν
4 \ \ VA
δυνάμεων κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐλπίσῃς ποτὲ δυνήσε-
A A 9 3 A e s
σθαι καταλαβεῖν. τῶν δ᾽ ἐφικτῶν, ws εἶπον,
e ~ \
ἑτοίμως Kal προθύμως μεταδίδωμι: ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐστὶν
39." A A ~: in :
ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καλέσαι θέαν,
a 3 ’ 3 A > \ aA ’
ἣν οὐ σώματος ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀλλὰ τοῖς διανοίας
ἀκοιμήτοις ὄμμασι συμβαίνει καταλαμβάνεσθαι.
50 μόνον ὁ σοφίας ἵμερος συεχὴς ἔστω καὶ πυκνός, ἣ
δογμάτων ἀοιδίμων καὶ περικαλλεστάτων ἀνα-
4 Ἁ \ \ 4 ~ d
πίμπλησι τοὺς φοιτητὰς καὶ γνωρίμους αὐτῆς.
“ 3 ’ 3 4 A > / 3 3
ταῦτα ἀκούσας οὐκ ἐπαύσατο τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ἀλλ
A ,
ἔτι TOV ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀοράτοις πόθον ἐζωπύρει.
\ 4 \ e ? wv 9 ον
51 IX. Καὶ πάντας τοὺς ὁμοιοτρόπους εἴτ᾽ οὖν
4 3 3 “ Ν \ 3 “A /
φύντας ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἴτε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μεταβάλλεσθαι
A \ ,
πρὸς τὴν ἀμείνω τάξιν κρείττους γεγονότας ἀπο-
δέχεται, τοὺς μὲν ὅτι τὴν εὐγένειαν οὐ κατέλυσαν,
\ > ὦ \ > 7 56) , Py
τοὺς δ᾽ ὅτι πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ἠξίωσαν μεθορμίσασθαι
, \ A ’ \ A
—tovtous δὲ καλεῖ προσηλύτους ἀπὸ τοῦ προσ-
εληλυθέναι καινῇ καὶ φιλοθέῳ πολιτείᾳ,---οἵ μυθικῶν
A U4 *
μὲν ἀλογοῦσι πλασμάτων, περιέχονται δὲ ἀκραιφ-
1 Or, as some Μ88., ἰδιοποιοῦσι, “ give individuality.” It
would be quite in Philo’s way to associate ἴδιος with ἐδέα.
2 mss. μεθαρμόσασθαι, a word less suitable here and often

confused in mss. with μεθορμίσ. See Cohn, Hermes, 1908,
p. 186.

126

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 48-51

Some among you call them not inaptly ‘ forms’ or 48
‘ideas,’ “since they bring form into everything that is,
giving order to the disordered, limit to the unlimited,
bounds to the unbounded, shape to the shapeless, and

in general changing the worse to something better.
Do not, then, hope to be ever able to apprehend Me 49
or any of My powers in Our essence. But I readily
and with right goodwill will admit you to a share of
what is attainable. That means that I bid you come
and contemplate the universe and its contents, a
spectacle apprehended not by the eye of the body but
by the unsleeping eyes of the mind.? Only let there 50
be the constant and profound longing for wisdom
which fills its scholars and disciples with verities
glorious in their exceeding loveliness.’” When Moses
heard this, he did not cease from his desire but
kept the yearning for the invisible aflame in his
heart.

IX. All of like sort to him, all who spurn idle fables 51
and embrace truth in its purity, whether they have
been such from the first or through conversion to the
better side have reached that higher state, obtain
His ὁ approval, the former because they were not false
to the nobility of their birth, the latter because their
judgement led them to make the passage to piety.
These last he calls “ proselytes,” or newly-joined,
because they have joined the new and godly common-

* This and 8 323 below seem to be the only places where
Philo definitely identifies the δυνάμεις with the Platonic ἰδέαι,
though perhaps De Cher. 51 ai τυποῦσαι δυνάμεις τὰ ἐν μέρει
may imply it.

> i.e. the contemplation must be philosophical, “ looking
through nature to nature’s God.”

¢ The subject of ἀποδέχεται is certainly God, but that of
καλεῖ and the verbs that follow is more likely Moses. Rapid
changes of this kind are not, I think, unusual in Philo.

127

PHILO

“-- 3 3 ’ A 4
52 νοῦς ἀληθείας. ἰσοτιμίαν γοῦν ἁπασιν
ἐπηλύταις διδοὺς καὶ χαρισάμενος ὅσα καὶ τοῖς
4 a a
αὐτόχθοσι παραινεῖ τοῖς εὐπατρίδαις, μὴ μόνον
3 ‘\ a 4 3 \ \ 3 4 [4
αὐτοὺς τιμαῖς γεραίρειν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξαιρέτῳ φιλίᾳ
καὶ εὐνοίᾳ περιττῆ. καὶ μήποτ᾽ εἰκότως" ““ἀπο-
s_* oo» 7 ἐς , ν 47 \
λελουπότες ᾿᾿ φησί “ πατρίδα καὶ φίλους καὶ συγ-
γενεῖς δι’ ἀρετὴν καὶ ὁσιότητα μὴ ἀμοιρείτωσαν
ες; / ἢ ein Same | \ / 2\\>?
ἑτέρων πόλεων καὶ οἰκείων Kal φίλων, ἀλλ
” ” \ a δ 3 /
ἔστωσαν ἔφεδροι καταφυγαὶ Tots πρὸς εὐσέβειαν
αὐτομολοῦσι" φίλτρον γὰρ ἀνυσιμώτατον καὶ δεσμὸς
ἄλυτος εὐνοίας ἑνωτικῆς ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς θεοῦ τιμή.
53 προστάττει δὲ “μή, παρόσον αὐτοῖς
9
ἰσονομίαν καὶ ἰσοτέλειαν [ἐπηλύταις" παρέχει κατ-
A A 4
εγνωκόσι τοῦ πατρῴου Kal προγονικοῦ τύφου,
στομαργίᾳ χρήσασθαι καὶ ἀχαλίνῳ γλώσσῃ βλα-
“-- 4 4 4 \
σφημοῦντας ovs ἕτεροι νομίζουσι θεούς, ἵνα μὴ
3 A 4 Δ 3 4 4 \
κἀκεῖνοι διακινηθέντες ἃ μὴ θέμις φθέγξωνται κατὰ
~ 4 ~ aA /
[220] rod ὄντως ὄντος" ἀγνοίᾳ yap τῆς διαφορᾶς, ἅτε
\ lon e 3 \ 4 3 4 \
τὸ ψεῦδος ὡς ἀληθὲς προμαθόντες ἐκ παίδων Kal
σύντροφον ἔχοντες, ἐξαμαρτήσονται.
“-- 3 3 \ a + ” 4 A
δά Τῶν δ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους εἴ τινες καθυφίενται τὴν

1 MSS. οἰκιῶν.

2 So Cohn: Mangey on the other hand expunges αὐτοῖς,
which is absent in three mss., and retains ἐπηλύταις. Against
Cohn it may be said that it is not clear why the order which
follows should be addressed to the proselytes instead of to
Israel (unless on the ground that converts or perverts are apt
to be particularly severe to their former co-religionists). If
ἐπηλύταις is retained a fair sense can be obtained. The
honours awarded by God to converts from the outside
religions might naturally be regarded as a signal evidence
of the abhorrence which these religions deserve.

* See Lev. xix. 33, 34; Deut. x. 18, 19; E.V. “strangers.”
128

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 52-54

wealth.? Thus, while giving equal rank
to all in-comers with all the privileges which he gives
to the native-born, he exhorts the old nobility to
honour them not only with marks of respect but with
special friendship and with more than ordinary good-
will. And surely there is good reason for this ; they
have left, he says, their country, their kinsfolk and
their friends for the sake of virtue and religion. Let
them not be denied another citizenship or other ties
of family and friendship, and let them find places of
shelter standing ready for refugees to the camp of
piety. For the most effectual love-charm, the chain
which binds indissolubly the goodwill which makes
us one is to honour the one God. Yet he
counsels them that they must not, presuming on the
equal privilege and equal rank which He grants them
because they have denounced the vain imaginings
of their fathers and ancestors, deal in idle talk or revile
with an unbridled tongue the gods whom others
acknowledge,° lest they on their part be moved to
utter profane words against Him Who truly 15. For
they know not the difference, and since the falsehood
has been taught to them as truth from childhood and
has grown up with them, they will go astray.

But if any members of the nation betray the honour

The word of course does not imply conversion to the religion
of Israel, as Philo might have seen from “ ye were proselytes
in Egypt.”
> * ‘Thou shalt love him as thyself,” Lev. xix. 34.

¢ This is no doubt mainly based on Ex. xxii. 28, ‘* Thou
shalt not revile God,” where the txx has θεούς. See Mos.
ii. 203 and note, with references to Josephus. But that passage
shews that he gave the same interpretation to Lev. xxiv. 15,
‘* whosoever curseth God shall bear the guilt of his sin,’’ on
the grounds that as this is treated as a lesser sin than naming
the name of the Lord, it could not refer to.the true God.

VOL. VII K 129

52

53

54

PHILO

τοῦ ἑνὸς τιμήν, ws λιπόντες THY ἀναγκαιοτάτην
τάξιν εὐσεβείας καὶ ὁσιότητος ταῖς ἀνωτάτω τι-
μωρίαις ὀφείλουσι κολάζεσθαι, σκότος αἱρούμενοι
πρὸ αὐγοειδεστάτου φωτὸς καὶ τυφλὴν ἀπεργαζό-
55 μενοι διάνοιαν ὀξὺ καθορᾶν δυναμένην. καὶ ἐπι-
τετράφθαι δὲ καλὸν ἅπασι τοῖς ζῆλον ἔχουσιν
ἀρετῆς ἐκ χειρὸς ἀναπράττειν ἀνυπερθέτως τὰς
τιμωρίας, μήτ᾽ εἰς δικαστήριον μήτ᾽ εἰς βουλευτή-
ριον μήτε συνόλως ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν ἄγοντας, ἀλλὰ τῷ
παραστάντι μισοπονήρῳ πάθει καὶ φιλοθέῳ κατα-
χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀπαραιτήτους κολά-
σεις, νομίσαντας αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ τὰ πάντα
γεγενῆσθαι, βουλευτάς, δικαστάς, στρατηγούς, ἐκ-
κλησιαστάς, κατηγόρους, μάρτυρας, νόμους, δῆμον,
ἵνα μηδενὸς ὄντος ἐμποδὼν ἄφοβοι σὺν ἀδείᾳ πολλῇ
56 προαγωνίζωνται ὁσιότητος. Χ. ἀνα-
γέγραπταίτις ἐν τοῖς νόμοις τὸ καλὸν τοῦτο τόλμημα
τολμήσας. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐθεάσατό τινας ἀλλοφύλοις
συνόντας γυναιξὶ καὶ ἕνεκα τῶν πρὸς αὐτὰς φίλτρων
ἀλογοῦντας μὲν τῶν πατρίων, τελουμένους δὲ τὰς
μυθικὰς τελετάς, ἕνα τὸν ἔξαρχον καὶ ἡγεμόνα τῆς
παρανομίας καταθαρροῦντα ἤδη παρεπιδείκνυσθαι
δημοσίᾳ τὸ ἀνοσιούργημα καὶ θυσίας ἀγάλμασι καὶ
ξοάνοις ἀθύτους' φανερῶς ἐπιτελοῦντα παρόντος
ἅπαντος τοῦ πλήθους ἐνθουσιῶν, ἀνείρξας τοὺς παρ᾽

1 ss. ἀθύτοις.

* For this section ¢f. Deut. xiii. 12 ff., and xvii. 6 ff., though
there a stricter inquiry is enjoined than what is suggested
here. On this and Jewish lynching in general see App.
pp. 616-618.

130

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 54-56

due to the One they should suffer the utmost penalties.
They have abandoned their most vital duty, their
service in the ranks of piety and religion, have chosen
darkness in preference to the brightest light and
blindfolded the mind which had the power of keen
vision. “®And it is well that all who have a zeal for 55
virtue should be permitted to exact the penalties
offhand and with no delay, without bringing the
offender before jury or council or any kind of magis-
trate at all, and give full scope to the feelings which
possess them, that hatred of evil and love of God which
urges them to inflict punishment without mercy on
the impious. They should think that the occasion
has made them councillors, jurymen, high sheriffs,®
members of assembly, accusers, witnesses, laws,
people, everything in fact, so that without fear or
hindrance they may champion religion in full security.
X. There is recorded in the Laws 56
the example of one who acted with this admirable
courage.° He had seen some persons consorting with
foreign women and through the attraction of their
love-charms spurning their ancestral customs and
seeking admission to the rites of a fabulous religion.
One in particular he saw, the chief ringleader of the
backsliding, who had the audacity to exhibit his unholy
conduct in public and was openly offering sacrifices,
a travesty of the name, to images of wood and stone
in the presence of the whole people. So, seized with
inspired fury, keeping back the throng of spectators

> Or “governor (of a nome).”” See note on De Jos. 3.
Goodenough, “ Roman magistrates.”

¢ See Num. xxv. ff. The story of Phinehas, used for
allegorical purposes in De Post. 182 ff., De Ebr. 73 ff., De
Conf. 57, has been given in much the same terms as here,
though more fully, in Mos. i. 301 ff.

131

PHILO

e 4 > A A , 9 ’ 980" 9
ἑκάτερα ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν ἠθροισμένους, οὐδὲν εὐλαβη-
θεὶς ἀναιρεῖ σὺν τῇ γυναικί, τὸν μὲν ἕνεκα τῆς
9 / ἴω Δ A > U4 A 3
εὐμαθείας (τῶν; ἃ λυσιτελὲς ἀπομανθάνειν, τὴν ὃ
57 ὅτι διδάσκαλος κακῶν ἐγένετο. τουτὶ τὸ ἔργον
ἐξαίφνης δρασθὲν ἐν θερμῷ παραστήματι μυρίους
ἐνουθέτησε “τῶν ἐπὶ ταῦτα παρασκευαζομένων.
ἐπαινέσας οὖν ὁ θεὸς τὴν ἀριστείαν αὐτοκελεύστῳ
καὶ ἐθελουργῷ σπουδῇ γενομένην διτταῖς αὐτὸν
ἀναστέφει δωρεαῖς, εἰρήνῃ καὶ ἱερωσύνῃ, τῇ μὲν
κρίνας ἄξιον ἀπολέμου μεταποιεῖσθαι βίου τὸν
ἀράμενον τοὺς ὑπὲρ θεοῦ τιμῆς ἀγῶνας, τῇ δ᾽ ὅτι
γέρας οἰκειότατον εὐσεβοῦς ἀνδρὸς t ἱερωσύνη θερα-
πείαν ἐπαγγελλομένη τοῦ πατρός, ᾧ τὸ δουλεύειν
οὐκ ἐλευθερίας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλείας ἄμεινον.
58 ἔνιοι δὲ τοσαύτῃ κέχρηνται μανίας
ὑπερβολῇ, ὥστ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀναχώρησιν αὑτοῖς εἰς μετά-
[221] νοιαν | “ἀπολείποντες ἵενται πρὸς δουλείαν τῶν
χειροκμήτων, γράμμασιν αὐτὴν ὁμολογοῦντες, οὐκ
ἐν χαρτιδίοις, <add’), ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνδραπόδων ἔθος,
[ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς σώμασι καταστίζοντες αὐτὰ σιδήρῳ
πεπυρωμένῳ πρὸς ἀνεξάλειπτον μονήν: οὐδὲ γὰρ

χρόνῳ ταῦτα ἀμαυροῦται.

> e 4 ’ e e ’
69 ΧΙ. Τὴν δ᾽ ὁμοίαν προαίρεσιν ὃ ἱερώτατος
Μωυσῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἅπαξ ἁπάντων σῴζειν
3 3 ’ 9 A “nA A 4 A A
ἔοικεν ἀληθείας ἐραστὴς ὧν Kat διδάσκαλος, ἣν καὶ
πᾶσι τοῖς γνωρίμοις ἐγχαράττειν καὶ ἐνσφραγίζε-
σθαι ποθεῖ τὰς ψευδεῖς δόξας μακρὰν τῆς διανοίας
4 The allusion is to Lev. xix. 28 (¢f. ἐδ. xxi. 5, Deut. xiv. 1),
“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead
(Lxx ἐπὶ ψυχῇ). nor print any marks upon you,” which Philo ©
takes to refer to idolatrous practices. Such connexion as there

is with the poe section lies in the antithesis between
bondage to God and bondage to idols. See App. p. 618.

132

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 56-59

on either side, he slew without a qualm him and her,
the man because he listened to lessons which it were
a gain to unlearn, the woman because she had been
the instructor in wickedness. This deed suddenly 57
wrought in the heat of excitement acted as a warning
to multitudes who were preparing to make the same
apostasy. So then God, praising his high achieve-
ment, the result of zeal self-prompted and whole-
hearted, crowned him with a twofold award, the gifts
of peace and priesthood, the first because He judged
the champion who had battled for the honour of God
worthy to claim a life free from war, the second be-
cause the guerdon most suitable to a man of piety is
the priestly office which professes the service of the
Father, bondage to Whom is better not only than
freedom but also than kingship. α But 58
some labour under a madness carried to such an
extravagant extent that they do not leave themselves
any means of escape to repentance, but press to
enter into bondage to the works of men and acknow-
ledge it by indentures not written on pieces of parch-
ment, but, as is the custom of slaves, branded on their
bodies with red-hot iron. And there they remain
indelibly, for no lapse of time can make them fade.
XI. The like principle® is clearly maintained in 59
the case of everything else by the most holy Moses,
who loves and teaches the truth which he desires
to engrave and stamp on all his disciples, dislodging
and banishing false opinions to a distance from their

> Not very clear. It obviously cannot refer to the preced-
ing section, nor very appropriately to 88 56, 57. For Philo
does not go on to suggest that the persons now described
should be lynched or even judicially executed, but merely
excluded, though Lev. xx. 6 and 27 sanction the penalty of
death. See App. p. 618. ᾿ |

133

60

61

62

63

PHILO

αὐτῶν ἀποικίζων. ἐπιστάμενος γοῦν τῷ πλάνῳ
τῶν πολλῶν βίῳ συμπράττουσαν οὐ μετρίως εἰς
ἀνοδίαν μαντικήν, ovdevi τῶν εἰδῶν αὐτῆς ἐᾷ
χρῆσθαι, πάντας δὲ τοὺς κολακεύοντας αὐτὴν
ἐλαύνει τῆς ἰδίου" πολιτείας, θύτας, καθαρτάς,
οἰωνοσκόπους, τερατοσκόπους, ἐπάδοντας, κλῃ-
δόσιν ἐπανέχοντας. στοχασταὶ γὰρ πάντες οὗτοι
πιθανῶν καὶ εἰκότων, ἄλλοτε ἄλλας ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν
φαντασίας λαμβάνοντες, διὰ τὸ μήτε τὰ ὑποκείμενα
φύσιν ἔχειν πάγιον μήτε τὴν διάνοιαν ἀκριβῆ
βάσανον περιπεποιῆσθαι, ἧ βασανισθήσεται τὰ
δόκιμα. παρασκευαὶ δὲ πάντα ταῦτ᾽ εἰσὶν ἀσεβείας"
διὰ τί; ὅτι ὃ προσέχων καὶ πειθόμενος αὐτοῖς
ἀλογεῖ τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου μόνα ταῦθ᾽ ὑπολαμβάνων
ἀγαθῶν εἶναι καὶ κακῶν αἴτια, καὶ οὐκ αἰσθάνεται
τὰς τοῦ βίου φροντίδας ἐξάπτων ἀβεβαιοτάτων
πεισμάτων, ὀρνίθων καὶ πτερῶν καὶ φορᾶς ἐν ἀέρι
τῆς ὧδε κἀκεῖσε καὶ χαμαιζήλων ἑρπετῶν, ἃ τῶν
φωλεῶν ἀνέρπει πρὸς ζήτησιν τροφῆς, ἔτι δὲ
σπλάγχνων καὶ αἵματος καὶ νεκρῶν σωμάτων, ἃ
στερόμενα ψυχῆς εὐθὺς ἐ ἐπισυμπίπτει καὶ συγχεῖται
καὶ ἑτεροιούμενα τὰς οἰκείας φύσεις ἐξαλλάττει
πρὸς τὴν χείρω μεταβολήν. ἀξιοῖ γὰρ τὸν ἐγ-
γραφόμενον τῇ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους πολιτείᾳ “᾿ τέ-
λειον ”’ εἶναι, μὴ ἐν οἷς οἱ L πολλοὶ πεπαιδοτρίβηνται,
μαντείαις καὶ κλῃδόσι καὶ πιθαναῖς εἰκασίαις, a

1 mss. ἰδίας or mostly ἀιδίου. The adjective has -os, -a, -ον
or -os, -ov indifferently.

“ These terms are largely drawn from Deut. xviii. 10 f.
where we have περικαθαίρων τὸν υἱὸν ἐν πυρί, κληδονιζόμενος,
οἰωνιζόμενος, φαρμακὸς ἐπαείδων ἐπαοιδήν, τερατοσκόπος. Philo’s
καθαρτής, which Heinemann translates by “ Siihnepriester,”’

134

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 60-63

understanding. Thus, knowing that the erring life 60
of the multitude is greatly helped on its way into the
wilds by the art of divination, he forbids them to use
any of its forms and expels from his own common-
wealth all its fawning followers, haruspices, purifi-
cators, augurs, interpreters of prodigies, incantators,*
and those who put their faith in sounds and voices.
For all these are but guessing at what is plausible and 61
probable, and the same phenomena present to them
ideas which differ at different times because the
things on which they are based have no natural
stability nor has the understanding acquired any
accurate touchstone by which the genuine can be
tested and approved. All these pave the way for 62
impiety. Whyso? Because he who pays attention
and puts confidence in them is spurning the Cause of
all in his belief that they are the sole causes of good
and evil and fails to perceive that the anchors on
which he moors his life and its cares are utterly in-
secure, such as birds and wings and their flight
hither and thither through the air, and grovelling
reptiles which crawl out of their holes to seek their
food; and again entrails and blood and corpses
which deprived of life at once collapse and decompose
and in this process exchange their natural properties
for others of worse condition. Moses demands that 63
one who is registered in the commonwealth of the
laws should be perfect not in the lore, in which the
many are schooled, of divination and voices and

evidently corresponds to the περικαθαίρων of Deut. (E.V.
‘*makes his son to pass through fire’’). κλῃδόσι, cf. Mos.
i. 287, may mean “omens”’ generally. The ‘“‘ haruspex”’
naturally has no place in Deut., as the O.T., I believe, shews
no trace of divining by entrails of victims. θύτης is given
in L. & S. revised as “‘ diviner,’’ but is clearly more specific.

135

PHILO

ἐν Tots πρὸς θεὸν οὐδὲν ἔχουσιν ἐπαμφοτερίζον 7
ἀμφίβαλον ἀλλ᾽ ἀνενδοίαστον καὶ γυμνὴν ἀλήθειαν.
θά ἐπεὶ δὲ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐ ἔρως τῆς τῶν
μελλόντων ἐπιστήμης ἐνίδρυται καὶ διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα
τοῦτον ἐπὶ θυτικὴν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα εἴδη τρέπονται
μαντικῆς, ws dv αὐτῶν τὸ σαφὲς ἀνευρήσοντες, τὰ
δ᾽ ἀσαφείας γέμει πολλῆς καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἀεὶ
διελέγχεται, τούτοις μὲν σφόδρα εὐτόνως ἐπ-
ακολουθεῖν ἀπαγορεύει, φησὶ δ᾽ ὅτι, ἐὰν ἀκλινῶς
[222] εὐσεβῶσιν, οὐκ | ἀμοιρήσουσι τῆς τῶν μελλόντων
65 ἐπιγνώσεως, ἀλλά τις ἐπιφανεὶς ἐξαπιναίως προ-
φήτης θεοφόρητος θεσπιεῖ καὶ προφητεύσει, λέγων
μὲν οἰκεῖον ovdev—ovde γάρ, εἰ λέγει, δύναται
καταλαβεῖν ὅ γε κατεχόμενος ὄντως καὶ ἐνθουσιῶν,
—éoa δ᾽ ἐνηχεῖται, διελεύσεται καθάπερ ὑποβάλ-
λοντος ἑτέρου" ἑρμηνεῖς γάρ εἰσιν οἱ προφῆται θεοῦ
καταχρωμένου τοῖς ἐκείνων ὀργάνοις πρὸς δήλωσιν
ὧν ἂν ἐθελήσῃ. ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια
περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς θεοῦ καὶ ὄντως ὄντος ἐννοίας
ὑπειπών, ὃν χρὴ τρόπον ἀπονέμειν αὐτῷ τὰς τιμὰς
ἑξῆς ὑπογράφει.
66 XII? Τὸμὲν ἀνωτάτω καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἱερὸν θεοῦ
νομίζειν τὸν σύμπαντα χρὴ κόσμον εἶναι, νεὼ μὲν
4 \ e ’ “A ~ 3 9 ’ 4
ἔχοντα TO ἁγιώτατον τῆς τῶν ὄντων οὐσίας μέρος,
οὐρανόν, ἀναθήματα δὲ τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἱερέας δὲ τοὺς
ὑποδιακόνους αὐτοῦ τῶν δυνάμεων ἀγγέλους, ἀσω-
μάτους ψυχάς, οὐ κράματα ἐκ λογικῆς καὶ ἀλόγου

1 Here the mss. insert the heading Περὶ ἱεροῦ.

@ See Deut. xviii. 15-18.

> So (v. 18), “1 will put my words in his mouth and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”

¢ For the idea of insistence and reiteration in ἐνηχεῖν (in

136

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 63-66

plausible conjectures, but in his duties towards God
in which there is nothing doubtful or ambiguous

but undoubted, naked truth. 2 But since a θά

longing to know the future is ingrained in all men,
which longing makes them turn to haruspication and
the other forms of divination in the prospect of find-
ing certainty thereby, though actually they are
brimful of uncertainty and constantly convict them-
selves of falsehood—while he very earnestly forbids
them to follow such, yet he tells them that if they do
not swerve from piety they will not be denied the

full knowledge of the future. A prophet possessed 65

by God will suddenly appear and give prophetic
oracles.» Nothing of what he says will be his own,
for he that is truly under the control of divine inspira-
tion has no power of apprehension when he speaks
but serves as the channel for the insistent® words of
Another’s prompting. For prophets are the inter-
preters of God, Who makes full use of their organs of
speech to set forth what He wills. These and the
like are his injunctions as to the conception of the
one truly existing God. Having opened with them,
he next proceeds to indicate how the honours due to
Him should be paid.

XII.4 The highest, and in the truest sense the holy,
temple of God is, as we must believe, the whole
universe, having for its sanctuary the most sacred part
of all existence, even heaven, for its votive orna-
ments the stars, for its priests the angels who are
servitors to His powers, unbodied souls, not compounds

colloquial English ‘‘to drum or din into one’’) see note on
De Mut. 57. For the general sense of the passage cf. Quis
Rerum 265 f.

ἀ The mss. insert the heading “ Of the temple,” and Cohn
begins a fresh numeration of chapters.

137

PHILO

φύσεως, οἵας τὰς ἡμετέρας εἶναι συμβέβηκεν, ἀλλ᾽
ἐκτετμημένας τὸ ἄλογον, ὅλας δι᾿ ὅλων νοεράς,
67 λογισμοὺς ἀκραιφνεῖς, μονάδι ὁμοιουμένας. τὸ δὲ
χειρόκμητον' ἔδει γὰρ ὁρμὰς ἀνθρώπων μὴ ἀνα-
κόψαι φορὰς τὰς εἰς, εὐσέβειαν συντελούντων καὶ
θυσίαις βουλομένων + 7 ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβαίνουσιν ἀγα-
[228] θοῖς εὐχαριστεῖν ἢ ἐφ᾽ οἷς | av ἁμαρτάνωσι συγ-
γνώμην καὶ παραίτησιν αἰτεῖσθαι. προὐνόησε δ᾽
ὡς οὔτε πολλαχόθι οὔτ᾽ ἐν ταὐτῷ πολλὰ κατα-
σκευασθήσεται ἱ ἱερά, δικαιώσας, ἐπειδὴ εἷς ἐστιν ὃ
68 θεός, καὶ ἱερὸν ἕν εἶναι μόνον. εἶτα τοῖς βουλο-
μένοις ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις αὐτῶν ἱερουργεῖν οὐκ ἐφίησιν,
ἀλλ᾽ ἀνισταμένους ἀπὸ περάτων γῆς εἰς τοῦτ᾽
ἀφικνεῖσθαι κελεύει, ἅμα καὶ τῶν τρόπων ἀναγ-
καιοτάτην λαμβάνων βάσανον: 6 γὰρ μὴ μέλλων
θύειν εὐαγῶς οὐκ ἂν ὑπομείναι ποτὲ πατρίδα καὶ
φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς ἀπολιπὼν ἕξενιτεύειν, ἀλλ᾽
ἔοικεν ὑπὸ δυνατωτέρας ὁλκῆς ἀγόμενος τῆς πρὸς
εὐσέβειαν ὑπομένειν τῶν συνηθεστάτων καὶ φιλ-
τάτων ὥσπερ τινῶν ἡνωμένων μερῶν ἀπαρτᾶσθαι.
69 καὶ τοῦδε σαφεστάτη πίστις τὰ γινός
μενα: μυρίοι γὰρ ἀπὸ μυρίων ὅσων πόλεων, οἱ μὲν
διὰ γῆς, οἱ i δὲ διὰ θαλάττης, ἐξ ἀνατολῆς καὶ δύσεως
καὶ ἄρκτου καὶ μεσημβρίας καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἑορτὴν
εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν καταίρουσιν οἷά τινα κοινὸν ὑπόδρομον
καὶ καταγωγὴν ἀσφαλῆ πολυπράγμονος καὶ ταρα-
χωδεστάτου βίου, ζητοῦντες εὐδίαν εὑρεῖν καὶ
φροντίδων ἀνεθέντες, αἷς ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας κατα-
ζεύγνυνται καὶ πιέζονται, βραχύν τινα διαπνεύ-
Ἴ0 σαντες χρόνον ἐν ἱλαραῖς διάγειν εὐθυμίαις" ἐλπίδων

@ Cf. Mos. ii. 288.
138

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 66-70

of rational and irrational nature, as ours are, but with
the irrational eliminated, all mind through and
through, pure intelligences, in the likeness of the
monad.* There is also the temple made by hands; for 67
it was right that no check should be given to the
forwardness of those who pay their tribute to piety
and desire by means of sacrifices either to give thanks
for the blessings that befall them or to ask for pardon
and forgiveness for their sins. But he provided that
there should not be temples built either in many
places or many in the same place, for he judged that
since God is one, there should be also only one temple.’
Further, he does not consent to those who wish to 68
perform the rites in their houses, but bids them rise
up from the ends of the earth and come to this temple.
In this way he also applies the severest test to their
dispositions. For one who is not going to sacrifice in

a religious spirit would never bring himself to leave
his country and friends and kinsfolk and sojourn in

a strange land, but clearly it must be the stronger
attraction of piety which leads him to endure separa-
tion from his most familiar and dearest friends who
form as it were a single whole with himself.

And we have the surest proof of this in what actually 69
happens. Countless multitudes from countless cities
come, some over land, others over sea, from east and
west and north and south at every feast. They take
the temple for their port as a general haven and safe
refuge from the bustle and great turmoil of life, and
there they seek to find calm weather, and, released
from the cares whose yoke has been heavy upon them
from their earliest years, to enjoy a brief breathing-
space in scenes of genial cheerfulness. Thus filled 70

> See Deut. xii. 5-7, 11-14, 17-18. See also App. p. 618.
139

7]

72

73

PHILO

. ~ 7 7 .
TE χρηστῶν γεμισθέντες σχολάζουσι τὴν ἀναγκαιο-
“ ‘\ aA “-
τάτην σχολὴν ὁσιότητι καὶ τιμῇ θεοῦ, φιλίαν καὶ
\ >
πρὸς τοὺς τέως ayvoovpéevovs συντιθέμενοι Kal
“ΟΦ ω ~ > A A “-
κρᾶσιν ἠθῶν ἐπὶ θυσιῶν καὶ σπονδῶν εἰς βεβαιο-
4 ,
τάτην πίστιν ὁμονοίας ποιούμενοι.
XIII. Τούτου τοῦ ἱεροῦ ὁ μὲν ἐξωτάτω περίβολος
\ 4 4 : a
καὶ μήκει καὶ πλάτει μέγιστος ὧν τέσσαρσι στοαῖς
3 “A
εἰς πολυτέλειαν ἠσκημέναις ὠχύρωται-: διπλῆ δ᾽
? Α b) “A e 4 4 \ 4 [ἡ \
ἐστὶν αὐτῶν ἑκάστη, ξύλων καὶ λίθων ὕλαις καὶ
4 ~
χορηγίαις ἀφθόνοις καὶ δημιουργῶν ἐμπειρίαις Kal
“A 3 3
τῶν ἐφεστηκότων ἐπιμελείαις κατεσκευασμένη,
τελειότατον ἔργον: οἱ δ᾽ εἴσω βραχύτεροι μέν,
’ >
αὐστηροτέραν δ᾽ ἔχοντες τὴν κατασκευήν. κατὰ δὲ
\ 4 \
TO μεσαίτατον αὐτὸς ὁ νεὼς παντὸς λόγου κρείττων,
3 “A YU 4 Ἁ \
ws ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων ἔστι τεκμήρασθαι" τὰ yap
2 >/ 4 \ e \ “- 3 a \
ἔνδον ἀόρατα παντί τῳ πλὴν ἑνὶ TH ἀρχιερεῖ, Kal
4 9 , U
τούτῳ μέντοι, du ἔτους ἐπιτετραμμένον ἅπαξ
9 ? oe
εἰσιέναι, πάντ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀθέατα: πυρεῖον yap ἀνθράκων
“~ \ 4 > 4 “ > 9
πλῆρες καὶ θυμιαμάτων εἰσκομίζει, πολλῆς δ᾽ ἀνα-
3 \ > 9
διδομένης ὡς εἰκὸς ἀτμίδος κατέχεται τὰν κύκλῳ
Uy
πάντα καὶ ἡ ὄψις ἐπισκιάζεται καὶ ἀνακοπὴν ἴσχει
πρόσω χωρεῖν ἀδυνατοῦσα. μέγιστος δὲ ὧν καὶ
¢ Lit. “they are at leisure with the most necessary leisure.”
For this use of ἀναγκαῖος cf. ὃ 54 above. Possibly, however,
‘the leisure which they are compelled by the nature of the
circumstances to have,”’ and so perhaps Heinemann (“‘ unent-
behrlicher”’). But the cognate accusative, as used by Philo,
seems to me to point clearly to the rendering in the trans-

lation.
» Here the ss. insert a heading Περὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, and Cohn

. begins a fresh numeration of the chapters, as in ὃ 12. For

a note on the description which follows see App. pp. 618-619.
¢ 4.e. with two rows of pillars (so Heinemann).

140

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 70-73

with comfortable hopes they devote the leisure, as
is their bounden duty,® to holiness and the honour- |
ing of God. Friendships are formed between those
who hitherto knew not each other, and the sacrifices
and libations are the occasion of reciprocity of feeling
and constitute the surest pledge that all are of one
mind.

XIII. "This temple is enclosed by an outermost 71
wall of very great length and breadth, which gains
additional solidity by four porticos so adorned as to
present a very costly appearance. Each of them is
twofold, and the stone and timber used as its
materials and supplied in abundance, combined with
the skill of experienced craftsmen and the care be-
stowed on it by the master-builders, have produced
a very perfect piece of work. The inner walls are
smaller and in a severer style of architecture.
Right in the very middle stands the sanctuary itself 72
with a beauty baffling description, to judge from
what is exposed to view. For all inside is unseen
except by the high priest alone, and indeed he,
though charged with the duty of entering once a
year, gets no view of anything. For he takes with
him a brazier full of lighted coals and incense,’ and
the great quantity of vapour which this naturally
gives forth covers everything around it, beclouds the
eyesight and prevents it from being able to penetrate
to any distance. The huge size and height of the 73

@ See Lev. xvi. 34 and cf. Hebrews ix. 7, and in Philo, De
Ebr. 136, De Gig. 52. Philo, however, seems to make a
strange mistake, as it is only “the holy place within the
veil’? to which this applies. In § 274 and § 296 below he
clearly states that the other priests had access to the rest of
the sanctuary.

¢ See Lev. xvi. 12, 13.

141

[224]

74

75

PHILO

e λ , U 1? / , ~
ὑψηλότατος, Kaitou ἐν χθαμαλωτέρῳ κείμενος, TOV
περιμηκεστάτων ὀρῶν οὐδενὸς | ἀποδεῖ. τὰ μὲν
> 3 9 ’ e \ ” ’ 4 9
οὖν ἐν οἰκοδομίαις ὑπερβολὰς ἔχοντα περίβλεπτά τ
ἐστὶ καὶ θαυμάζεται πρὸς τῶν ὁρώντων καὶ μάλιστα
τῶν ἐπιφοιτώντων E€vwv, ot συγκρίνοντες ταῖς
οἰκιῶν δημοσίων κατασκευαῖς ἐκπλήττονται τό τε

Ul e A \ A / ”

κάλλος ὁμοῦ καὶ THY πολυτέλειαν. ἄλσος
\ 9 ’ 9 3 κι 4 4 4 \
de οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ περιβόλῳ προστάξει νόμου, διὰ
πολλά: πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι οὐχ ἡδονὴν καὶ τέρψιν
9 , 9 A ‘ \ > la e \ 9 9
εὐδιάγωγον ἐπιζητεῖ τὸ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἱερὸν ἀλλ
αὐστηρὰν ἁγιστείαν" δεύτερον δ᾽ ὅτι τὰ συντείνοντα

κι ’
πρὸς τὴν τῶν δένδρων χλόην οὐ θέμις εἰσκομί-

\ 9 9 \ > ’ὔ \ ᾽ὔ > 4
ζεσθαι, τὰ δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ζῴων ἀλόγων
περιττώματα:' τρίτον δ᾽ ὅτι τὰ μὲν τῆς ἀγρίας ὕλης
\ IQA ΝΜ 6c 2 > ε e 4

πρὸς οὐδὲν ὄφελος, “΄ ἄχθος ᾿᾿ δ᾽ ὡς οἱ ποιηταί φασι

“ο “A ~ 3
“γῆς, τὰ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρου, καρπῶν ἡμέρων οἷ-

4 4 \ 3 / > \ A \ \
στικά, μεθέλξει τοὺς ὀλιγόφρονας ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὴν
ἱερουργίαν σεμνότητος. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις λάσια
χωρία καὶ δρυμοὶ βαθεῖς κακούργων εἰσὶν ἐνδιαυτή-
ματα τὴν ἐκ τοῦ συσκιάζεσθαι ποριζομένων ἀσφά-

\ A 3 > 93 > a nN > 4
λειαν καὶ τὰς ἐξ ἐνέδρας καθ᾽ ὧν ἂν ἐθελήσωσιν
3 / 2 2 ε 9 3 , \ \
αἰφνιδίους ἐπιθέσεις. αἱ δ᾽ edpvywpiat καὶ τὸ
ἀναπεπταμένον καὶ τὸ ἀνειμένον πάντῃ, μηδενὸς τὰς
\ \ A.
ὄψεις ἐμποδίζοντος, πρὸς τὴν τῶν εἰσιόντων Kal
lo e A
ἐνδιατριβόντων ἀκριβῆ θέαν ἱερῷ πρεπωδέστατον .3
1 ss. καὶ.
2 MSS. ἱεροπρεπωδέστατον.

@ See Deut. xvi. 21. Lxx ἄλσος, R.V. Asherah. Hecataeus
in his description of the temple (see on § 274) notes the
absence of anything like a grove.

142

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 73-75

sanctuary make it in spite of its comparatively low
situation as prominent an object as any of the
highest mountains. In fact, so vast are the build-
ings that they are seen conspicuously and strike
the eye with admiration, especially in the case of
foreign visitors, who compare them with the architec-
ture of their own public edifices and are amazed
both at their beauty and magnificence.

But there is no grove within the walled area by 74
order of the law, for many reasons. ®@ First, because
the temple which is truly holy does not seek to
provide pleasure and hours of easy enjoyment but
the austerity of religion; secondly, because the
means used to promote the verdure of trees, being
the excrements of men and irrational animals, cannot
be brought in there without profanity; thirdly,
because the plants of the wild kind of vegetation
are of no use, but only, as the poets say, ἃ burden
to the soil,’’® while those of the cultivated variety
which produce fruits of the same quality will dis-
tract the weak-minded from the solemnity of the
sacred rites. Furthermore, overgrown places and 75
dense thickets are the resort of malefactors, who use
their obscurity for their own safety and as an ambush
whence they can suddenly attack whomsoever they
wish. Broad spaces and openness and absence of
restriction on every side, where there is nothing to
hinder the sight, are most suitable to a temple, to
enable those who enter and spend their time there
to have an accurate view.

> Ibid. xviii. 104, Od. xx. 379; in both cases ἄχθος ἀρούρης.
Plato, however, has the form γῆς ἄχθη, Theaet.i.176 Ὁ. In
all these cases it is applied to human beings, and so by Philo,
Mos. i. 30, De Cong. 171; but see Spec. Leg. iii. 50.

143

PHILO

, e
76 XIV. IIpoodédous δ᾽ ἔχει τὸ ἱερὸν οὐ μόνον ἀπο-
A ~ > A \ A ’ e +f Δ \
τομὰς γῆς ἀλλὰ Kat πολὺ μείζους ἑτέρας, at μηδενὶ
χρόνῳ φθαρήσονται: ἐφ᾽ ὅσον γὰρ τὸ ἀνθρώπων
γένος διαμενεῖ---διαμενεῖ δ᾽ εἰς ἀεί,--καὶ αἱ πρόσ-
ve, lo ,

οὗοι TOO ἱεροῦ φυλαχθήσονται συνδιαιωνίζουσαι
77 παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ. προστέτακται γὰρ ἕκαστον ἀνὰ

πᾶν ἔτος ἀπαρχὰς εἰσφέρειν ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετίας ἀρξά-

μενον. αἱ δ᾽ εἰσφοραὶ “ λύτρα i προσονομάζονται"
διὸ καὶ προθυμότατα ποιοῦνται τὰς ἀπαρχᾶς,
φαιδροὶ καὶ γεγηθότες, ὡς ἅμα τῇ καταθέσει
4 “A 4 > \ Vv 4 3,
μέλλοντες ἢ δουλείας ἀπαλλαγὴν ἢ νόσων ἄκεσιν
εὑρίσκεσθαι καὶ βεβαιοτάτην ἐλευθερίαν ὁμοῦ καὶ
78 σωτηρίαν εἰς ἅπαν καρποῦσθαι. πολυανθρωπο-
τάτου δ᾽ ἔθνους ὡς εἰκὸς καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς
ἀφθονωτάτας εἶναι συμβέβηκε: σχεδὸν γοῦν ἀνὰ
πᾶσαν πόλιν ταμεῖα τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων ἐστίν,
εἰς ἃ παραγινομένοις ἔθος ᾿ἀπάρχεσθαι: καὶ χρόνοις
e
ὡρισμένοις ἱεροπομποὶ τῶν χρημάτων ἀριστίνδην
ς ᾿
ἐπικριθέντες, ἐξ ἑκάστης οἱ δοκιμώτατοι, χειρο-
τονοῦνται, σώους τὰς ἐλπίδας ἑκάστων παρα-
A ’ A
πέμψοντες: ἐν yap ταῖς νομίμοις amapyais at
τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἐλπίδες εἰσίν.

[225] 1 υλαὶ wider 5 260 ὃ "ὃ 14 5?
79 , XV. | vAat μὲν εἰσι τοῦ εὔνους δώδεκα, μια
ἐκ πασῶν ἀριστίνδην ἐπικριθεῖσα ἱερᾶται, γέρας
ἀνδραγαθίας καὶ φιλοθέου σπουδῆς τουτὶ λαβοῦσα,

9 A“ \ ” e \ € A 3
καθ᾽ ὃν καιρὸν ἔδοξεν ἡ πληθὺς ἁμαρτεῖν ἀπ-
1 Here the mss. insert the heading a ἱερέων.

@ See Ex. xxx. 12-16, where the “ransom ” is to be paid at
the census to avert the plague, which might be expected to
follow such a proceeding (see Driver). _

> Here the mss. give the heading ‘Of the priests,”’ but

Cohn does not begin a new numeration of chapters.
¢ The allusion is of course to the slaughter of the Calf-

144

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. γ6-79

XIV. The revenues of the temple are derived not 76

only from landed estates but also from other and far
greater sources which time will never destroy. For
as long as the human race endures, and it will endure

for ever, the revenues of the temple also will remain .

secure co-eternal with the whole universe. For it is
ordained that everyone, beginning at his twentieth
year, should make an annual contribution of first-
fruits.¢ These contributions are called “ransom
money, and therefore the first-fruits are given with
the utmost zeal. The donors bring them cheerfully
and gladly, expecting that the payment will give
them release from slavery or healing of diseases and
the enjoyment of liberty fully secured and also com-
plete preservation from danger. As the nation is
very populous, the offerings of first-fruits are natur-
ally exceedingly abundant. In fact, practically in
every city there are banking places for the holy
money where people regularly come and give their
offerings. And at stated times there are appointed
to carry the sacred tribute envoys selected on their
merits, from every city those of the highest repute,
under whose conduct the hopes of each and all will
travel safely. For it is on these first-fruits, as pre-
scribed by the law, that the hopes of the pious rest.

78

XV.° The nation has twelve tribes, but one out 79

of these was selected on its special merits for the
priestly office, a reward granted to them for their
gallantry and godly zeal on an occasion’ when the
multitude was seen to have fallen into sin through
worshippers by the Levites in Ex. xxxii. As to the statement
that the Levites received their consecration as a reward for
this, a statement made by Philo also in his longer account

of the event in Mos. ii. 160 f. and repeated in Spec. Leg.
ili. 125 f., see App. p. 619.

VOL. VII L 145

PHILO

Δ A
ακολουθήσασα γνώμαις ἐνίων ἀγνώμοσιν, οἵ τὴν
Αἰγυπτιακὴν ἔπεισαν ζηλοῦν ἠλιθιότητα καὶ τὸν
3 / A 4) > 29 3 ᾽ὔ ’ \ 4
ἐγχώριον τῦφον, ὃν ἐπ᾽ ἀλόγοις ζῴοις καὶ μάλιστα
ταύροις μυθοπλαστοῦσι: τοὺς γὰρ ἡγεμόνας τῆς
ἀπονοίας ἅπαντας ἡβηδὸν αὐτοκέλευστοι κατα-
κτείναντες εὐαγὲς ἔδοξαν ἔργον εἰργάσθαι, τοὺς
ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀγῶνας διαθλήσαντες.

80 XVI. Νόμοι δὲ ἱερέων εἰσὶν οἵδε. παντελῆ καὶ

8]

82

83

e 4 Ἂν ‘ e / 4 ’
ὁλόκληρον εἶναι τὸν ἱερέα προστέτακται, μηδεμίαν
ἐν τῷ σώματι λώβην ἔχοντα, μήτε κατ᾽ ἔνδειαν
ἐπιλείποντος ἢ 7) ἀκρωτηριασθέντος μέρους μήτε κατὰ
πλεονασμὸν ἅμα τῇ γενέσει περιττεύσαντος 7
ὕστερον ἐκ νόσου προσφύντος μήτε τῆς “χρόας
μεταβαλούσης εἰς λέπραν 7 λειχῆνας ἀγρίους ἢ
μυρμηκίας ἤ τινας ἄλλας ἐξανθημάτων ἐκφύσεις" a
μοι δοκεῖ πάντα σύμβολα τῆς περὶ ψυχὴν εἶναι
τελειότητος. εἰ γὰρ τὸ φύσει θνητὸν σῶμα τοῦ
ἱερέως ἐπισκεπτέον, ἵνα περὶ μηδὲν ἀτύχημα κη-

’ \ / Ἁ Ἁ 3 4 ω
paivn, πολὺ πλέον ψυχὴν τὴν ἀθάνατον, ἦν φασι
τυπωθῆναι κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ὄντος" λόγος δ᾽

\ “A ae
ἐστὶν εἰκὼν θεοῦ, δι᾿ οὗ σύμπας ὁ κόσμος ἐδη-
μιουργεῖτο.

\ \ \ > 9 ~ 3 4 \ 4

Mera δὲ τὴν ἐξ εὐπατριδῶν εὐγένειαν καὶ παντέ-
λειαν τὴν ἔν τε σώμασι καὶ ψυχαῖς περὶ ἐσθῆτος,
ἃ 3 4 A \ e 4 4
nv ἀναλαμβάνειν χρὴ τὸν ἱερέα μέλλοντα λειτουρ-
γεῖν τὰς ἱερὰς λειτουργίας, νενομοθέτηται. ἡ δ᾽
ἐσθής ἐστι χιτὼν λινοῦς καὶ περίζωμα, τὸ μὲν εἰς
3 4 A 4
αἰδοίων σκέπην, ἃ μὴ πρὸς TH θυσιαστηρίῳ ‘yu-

@ See Lev. xxi. 17-21 and xxii. 4. On ‘‘ redundant’”’ see
App. p. 619.

146

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 79-83

following the ill-judged judgement of some who per-
suaded them to emulate the foolishness of Egypt and
the vainly imagined fables current in that land,
attached to irrational animals and especially to bulls.
For the men of this tribe at no bidding but their own
made a wholesale slaughter of all the leaders of the
delusion and thus carrying to the end their champion-
ship of piety were held to have done a truly religious
deed.

XVI. With regard to the priests there are the 80
following laws. It is ordained that the priest should
be perfectly sound throughout, without any bodily
deformity.? No part, that is, must be lacking or have
been mutilated, nor on the other hand redundant,
whether the excrescence be congenital or an after-
growth due to disease. Nor must the skin have been
changed into a leprous state or into malignant tetters
or warts or any other eruptive growth. All] these
seem to me to symbolize perfection of soul. For if 81
the priest’s body, which is mortal by nature, must be
scrutinized to see that it is not afflicted by any serious
misfortune, much more is that scrutiny needed for
the immortal soul, which we are told was fashioned
after the image of the Self-existent.2. And the image
of God is the Word through whom the whole universe
was framed. |

After providing for his pure descent from a noble 82
stock and his perfection both of body and soul, the
legislation deals with the dress which the priest must
assume when he is about to carry out the sacred rites.

It consists of a linen tunic and short breeches, the 83
latter to cover the loins, which must not be exposed

> Gen. i. 27. See note on § 171.

147

PHILO

4 e A “--
μνουσθαι θέμις, ὁ δὲ χιτὼν ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς τὴν
€ , 9
ὑπηρεσίαν ὀξύτητος" ἀνείμονες γὰρ ἐν μόνοις
’ A
χιτωνίσκοις τά TE ἱερεῖα Kal τὰς εὐχὰς Kal τὰς
\ \
σπονδὰς Kat ὅσα ἄλλα θυσίαις χρήσιμα προσ-
4 9 3 4 4 9 4 ~ >
84 ἄγουσιν εἰς ἀνυπέρθετον τάχος ἠσκημένοι. τῷ ὃ
ἀρχιερεῖ διείρηται μὲν τὴν παραπλησίαν ἐσθῆτα
3 λ 4 e fs nv 9 \ A 9 4
ἀναλαμβάνειν, ἡνίκα av εἰς τὰ ἀδυτα ἐπιθυμιάσων
> » ‘ A \ 9 / 9 \ ~ 3
εἰσίῃ, διὰ τὸ τὴν ὀθόνην ἐκ μηδενὸς τῶν ἀποθνῃ-
4 Ὁ“ “ A
σκόντων ὥσπερ τὰ ἔρια γεννᾶσθαι, προστέτακται
A \ ¢ 7 A
δὲ καὶ ἑτέρᾳ χρῆσθαι πάνυ ποικίλην ἐχούσῃ KaTa-
, > aA
σκευήν, WS ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ μίμημα τοῦ κόσμου
ὃ a > \ de , e /
85 δοκεῖν εἶναι. σαφὴς δὲ πίστις ἡ κατασκευή.
~ \ \ A 4 3 Ψ 9
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἔνδυμα περιφερές ἐστιν, ὅλον δι
δλ € ’ θ ’ ’ 9. 4
ὅλων ὑακίνθινον, ποδήρης χιτών, ἀέρος σύμβολον,
9 4 ς᾽. 3A \ 4 / 3 \ \ 4
ἐπειδήπερ ὁ ἀὴρ Kal φύσει μέλας ἐστὶ καὶ τρόπον
\ / “- /
τινὰ ποδήρης, ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τῶν μετὰ σελήνην
4 A “ ~ “A ~
(226] | τόπων ταθεὶς ἄχρι τῶν κατωτάτω γῆς μυχῶν.
86 εἶθ᾽ ὕφασμα θωρακοειδὲς ἐπὶ τούτῳ, σύμβολον
~ 4 ~
οὐρανοῦ: δύο τε yap ἐπὶ τῶν ἀκρωμίων λίθοι
4 lon) 4 4 > » ς A
σμαράγδου τῆς τιμαλφεστάτης ὕλης εἰσίν, ὁ μὲν
” ¢€ o> » @ ς , a ,
ἔνθεν, ὁ δ᾽ ἔνθεν, εἷς ἑκατέρωθεν, περιφερεῖς, δείγ-
“- e A \ 9
ματα τῶν ἡμισφαιρίων, ὧν τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆν τὸ ὃ
1 καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς is omitted in the other mss. and appears in
R as καὶ τὰς followed by a word which Cohn prints as εὐχὰς ?.

He does not say anything about the Armenian. See App.
p. 620.

α See Ex. xxviii. 40-43.

> For the word ἀνείμονες see note on De Som. i. 99.

¢ See App. p. 620.

ὦ Lev. xvi. 4. The linen garment worn on this special
occasion is not mentioned in the account of Mos. ii. 109 ff.,

148

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 83-86

at the altar, while the tunic is to make them nimble
in their ministry.? For in this undress, with nothing
more than the short tunics, they are attired so as to
move with unhampered rapidity when they bring the
victims and the votive offerings’ and the libations
and all other things needed for the sacrifices. The
high priest is bidden to put on asimilar dress when he
enters the inner shrine to offer incense, because its
fine linen is not, like wool, the product of creatures
subject to death, and also to wear another, the
formation of which is very complicated.’ In this it
would seem to be a likeness and copy of the universe.

84

This is clearly shewn by the design. In the first 85

place, it is a circular garment of a dark blue colour
throughout, a tunic with a full-length skirt, thus
symbolizing the air, because the air is both naturally
black and in a sense a full-length robe stretching
from the sublunar region above to the lowest re-

cesses of the earth. Secondly, on this is set a piece 86

of woven work in the shape of a breastplate, which
symbolizes heaven. For on the shoulder-points there
are two emerald stones, a kind of substance which
is exceedingly valuable. There is one of these on
each side and both are circular, representing the
hemispheres, one of which is above and one under

but its significance is pointed out at length in De Hor. 86 ff.
Cf. Leg. All. ii. 56.

ὁ §§ 84-94. This account and interpretation of the long
robe (see Ex. xxviii.) follow closely that of Mos. ii. 109-135,
and the differences, mainly in the treatment of the two
mysterious objects called in the txx Clear shewing and
Truth (E.V. Urim and Thummim), § 88, and of the Bells,
§ 93, were, together with a comparison of the interpreta-
tion of the Bells in De Mig. 102 f., discussed in the note in
Mis VI. p. 609, and the discussion need not be repeated

ere.

149

PHILO

87 ὑπὸ γῆν ἐστιν. εἶτα πρὸς τοῖς στέρνοις δώδεκὰ
λίθοι πολυτελεῖς τὰς χρόας διαφέροντες, ἐκ τριῶν
τεταγμένοι τετραστοιχεί, πρὸς παράδειγμα τοῦ
ζῳδιακοῦ τυπωθέντες" καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐκ δώδεκα
συνεστὼς ζῳδίων τὰς ἐτησίους τέτταρας ὥρας ἀπο-

88 τελεῖ τρία νείμας εἰς ἑκάστην. σύμπας δ᾽
ὁ τόπος καλεῖται λογεῖον ἐτύμως, ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἐν οὐ-
ρανῷ πάντα λόγοις καὶ ἀναλογίαις δεδημιούργηται
καὶ συντέτακται" τῶν γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ παράπαν ἄλογον
οὐδέν. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ λογείου διττὰ ὑφάσματα κατα-
ποικίλλει προσαγορεύων τὸ μὲν δήλωσιν, τὸ δὲ

89 ἀλήθειαν. αἰνίττεται δὲ διὰ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας, ὅτι
οὐρανοῦ τὸ παράπαν ψεῦδος ἐπιβαίνειν οὐ θεμιτόν,
ἀλλὰ τοῦθ᾽ ἅπαν εἰς τὸν περίγειον πεφυγάδευται
χῶρον ψυχαῖς ἐναγῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰσοικιζόμενον,
διὰ δὲ τῆς δηλώσεως, ὅτι αἱ κατ᾽ οὐρανὸν φύσεις
ἕκαστα δηλοῦσι τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἃ καθ᾽ αὑτὰ πάντως

90 ἂν ἦν ἄγνωστα. σημεῖον δ᾽ ἐναργέστατον" εἰ μὴ
φῶς ἡλίου' ἀνέλαμψε, πῶς ἂν at τῶν σωμάτων
ἀμύθητοι ποιότητες διεφάνησαν, πῶς δ᾽ ἂν αἱ
πολύμορφοι τῶν χρωμάτων καὶ σχημάτων ἰδέαι;
ἡμέρας δὲ καὶ νύκτας μῆνάς τε καὶ ἐνιαυτοὺς καὶ
συνόλως χρόνον τίς ἀνέδειξεν ὅτι μὴ σελήνης καὶ
ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων al ἐναρμόνιοι καὶ

9] παντὸς λόγου κρείττους περιφοραί; τίς δὲ τὴν

1 So Rand the Armenian. The other mss. have φῶς ἥλιος or
φῶς ἥλιος δ᾽. Cohn prints φῶς, ἡλίου ἥλιος, appealing to § 279
below, but there the ‘“‘sun’s sun” is God. He also cites
(Hermes, 1908, p. 187) De Op. 31 as representing light as
the source of the sun, but that light is the φῶς νοητόν, an
idea which is not, I think, suited to this passage. For
further discussion see App. p. 620.

150

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 87-91

the earth. Then on the breast there are twelve 87
precious stones of different colours, arranged in four
rows of three each, set in this form on the model of
the zodiac, for the zodiac consisting of twelve signs
makes the four seasons of the year by giving three
signs to each. “This part of the dress as 88
a whole is significantly called the reason-seat, be-
cause heaven and its contents are all framed and
ordered on rational principles and proportions, for
nothing there is irrational. On the reason-seat he
embroidered two pieces of woven work, one of which
he called Clear Shewing and the other Truth. By gg
Truth he suggests the thought that no falsehood is
allowed to set foot in heaven but has been banished
entirely to the earthly regions and has its lodging in
the souls of accursed men: by Clear Shewing that
the heavenly beings make clear all things that we
are or do, which in themselves would be altogether
unknown. Here is a self-evident proof. If the light 90
of the sun had never shone, how could the numberless
qualities of bodily things have been perceived ? Or
the multiform varieties of colours and shapes? ®Who
else could have shewn us nights and days and months
and years and time in general except the revolutions,
harmonious and grand beyond all description, of the
sun and the moon and the other stars? How but 9]

α If I understand Philo aright, this description of the dress
identifies what in Mos. ii. 109 is called the ἐπωμίς (there
translated ‘‘ephod’’) with the λογεῖον or “oracle of judge-
ment’”’ (for the translation “‘ reason-seat”’ see note on Mos.
ii. 112), while there the λογεῖον is attached by chains to the
ἐπωμίς.

> For the general sense of what follows cf. De Op. 58-62;
also the eulogy of sight, De Abr. 158, 159, all of them deriving
originally from Plato, Timaeus 47.

151

PHILO

> A 4 3 by \. 4 \ \ A
ἀριθμοῦ φύσιν εἰ μὴ τὰ λεχθέντα κατὰ τὰς τῶν
μερῶν τοῦ χρόνου συνθέσεις; τίς δὲ τὰς ἐν θα-
λάσσῃ καὶ τοσούτοις πελάγεσιν ὁδοὺς ἀνέτεμε καὶ
“A “A A
διέδειξε πλωτῆρσιν εἰ μὴ αἱ τῶν ἀστέρων στροφαὶ
92 καὶ περίοδοι; σοφοὶ δ᾽ ἄνδρες καὶ μυρία ἄλλα
“- ’
παρατηρήσαντες ἀνέγραψαν, ἐκ τῶν οὐρανίων ση-
μειωσάμενοι νηνεμίας καὶ βίας πνευμάτων, φορὰς
καὶ ἀφορίας καρπῶν, ἀνειμένα καὶ φλογωδέστατα
θέρη, χειμῶνας ἐξαισίους καὶ ἐαρίζοντας, αὐχμοὺς
καὶ ἐπομβρίας, εὐγονίας ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ τοὐ-
4
vavTiov ἑκατέρων ayovias Kal ὅσα τοιουτότροπα"
πάντων yap ἐστηλίτευται τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἐν οὐρανῷ
τὰ σημεῖα.
\ \ aA 4 “ A
93 XVII. Ilpds δὲ τοῖς κατωτάτω μέρεσι τοῦ
4 > 4 a ¢ /
ποδήρους ἀπῃώρηνται χρυσοῖ ῥοΐσκοι κὠδωνές TE
ν»ν»ν \ > 3 \ 4 “. \ oo ~
καὶ ἄνθινα" τὰ δ᾽ ἐστὶ σύμβολα γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, γῆς
μὲν τὰ ἄνθινα, παρόσον βλαστάνει καὶ ἀνθεῖ πάντα
3 4 Ὁ \ ἐ ἐ oh 4 3 4
ἐκ ταύτης, ὕδατος δὲ οἱ ῥοΐσκοι λεχθέντες ἐτύμως
\ ἐ, \ > ¢ 4
παρὰ τὴν ῥύσιν, τὴν δ᾽ ἁρμονίαν καὶ συμφωνίαν Kal
~ ~A 4 ~
συνήχησιν τῶν τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν ot κώδωνες
3 ’ Ss > »” λ ¢ 4 9 4 4
94 ἐμφαίνουσιν. εὖ δ᾽ ἔχει Kal ἡ θέσις" ἀνωτάτω μέν,
Φ ΄ -
ev ᾧ ot λίθοι, τὸ καλούμενον περιστήθιον, οὐρανοῦ
4 4
μίμημα, διότι καὶ ὃ οὐρανὸς ἀνωτάτω, 6 δὲ ποδήρης
ς 9 ϑ A 5A ὃ 9 δλ ς ’ θ 3 δὴ \ ἐ
[997] ὑπ᾽ αὐτῷ, ὅλος δι᾽ ὅλων ὑακίνθινος, ἐπειδὴ | καὶ ὁ
ἀὴρ μέλας ὧν τὴν μετ᾽ οὐρανὸν δευτέραν τάξιν
\ e 4 A
κεκλήρωται, TA δ᾽ ἄνθινα καὶ οἱ ῥοΐσκοι πρὸς Tots
’ A \ 4 “A
ἐσχάτοις, διότι γῆ Kal ὕδωρ THY κατωτάτω τοῦ
A , 4 κ᾿ A
95 παντὸς μοῖραν ἔλαχον. ἥδ᾽ ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς
σι 4 [2 “--ο 4
ἐσθῆτος κατασκευὴ, μίμημα τοῦ παντός, θαυμάσιον
1δ2

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 91-95

through the same heavenly bodies teaching us to com-
pute the divisions of time could we have learnt the
nature of number? Who could have opened and
shewn to the voyager his path through the seas and
all the expanses of the deep had not the stars as they
wheel and revolve in their courses done the work ἢ

Numberless other phenomena have been observed and 92

recorded by wise men who by study of the heavenly
bodies have marked the signs of calm weather and
stormy winds, of plentifulness and scarcity of crops,
of mild and scorching summers, of sinister and spring-
like winters, of droughts and rainy seasons, of fecund-
ity in animals and plants and on the other hand of
sterility in both and all other matters of the same
kind. For of all the things that happen upon earth,
the signs are graven in the face of heaven.

XVII. At the very lowest part of the skirt there 93

are appended golden pomegranates and bells and
flower-work, symbols of earth and water : the flower
patterns of earth because they grow and flower out
of it, the pomegranate or flowing fruit, of water, the
name preserving its derivation from “ flowing,’’ while
the bells shew forth the harmony and concord and

unison of the parts of the universe. The order in 94

which the parts are arranged is also admirable. At
the very top is what he calls the breastpiece in which
are placed the stones, a copy of heaven because
heaven also is at the top. Then under it the full-
length skirt, dark blue right through because the air
also is black and occupies the second position below
the heaven, and the flower-work and pomegranates
at the extremities because to earth and water is

allotted the lowest place in the universe. Such is 95

the form in which the sacred vesture was designed,
153

PHILO

ἔργον καὶ ὀφθῆναι καὶ νοηθῆναι: καὶ yap ὄψιν ἔχει
καταπληκτικωτάτην οἵαν οὐδὲν ὕφασμα τῶν παρ᾽
ἡμῖν ἕνεκα ποικιλίας ὁμοῦ καὶ πολυτελείας καὶ

96 νόησιν τὴν περὶ τῶν αὐτῆς μερῶν φιλόσοφον. βού-
εται γὰρ τὸν ἀρχιερέα πρῶτον μὲν εἰκόνα τοῦ
παντὸς ἔχειν ἐμφανῆ περὶ ἑαυτόν, ἵ ἵν᾽ ἐκ τῆς συν-
εχοῦς θέας ἄξιον παρέχῃ τὸν ἴδιον βίον τῆς τῶν
ὅλων φύσεως, ἔπειθ᾽ ὅπως ἐν ταῖς ἱερουργίαις συλ-
λειτουργῇ πᾶς 6 κόσμος αὐτῷ: πρεπωδέστατον δὲ
τὸ τὸν ἱερωμένον τῷ τοῦ κόσμου πατρὶ καὶ τὸν
υἱόν, τὸ πᾶν, ἐπάγεσθαι πρὸς θεραπείαν τοῦ δε-

97 δημιουργηκότος καὶ “γεγεννηκότος. ἔστι
€ καὶ τρίτον τι τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐσθῆτος σύμβολον ἀ ἀναγ-
καῖον μὴ ἡσυχασθῆναι: τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων οἵ ἱερεῖς
ὑπὲρ οἰκείων καὶ φίλων καὶ πολιτῶν αὐτὸ μόνον
εἰώθασι τάς τε εὐχὰς καὶ θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν, 6 δὲ τῶν
᾿Ιουδαίων ἀρχιερεὺς οὐ μόνον ὑπὲρ ἅπαντος ἀν-
θρώπων γένους ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν τῆς φύσεως
μερῶν, γῆς, ὕδατος, a ἀέρος, πυρός, τάς τε εὐχὰς. καὶ
τὰς εὐχαριστίας ποιεῖται, τὸν κόσμον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ
ταῖς ἀληθείαις, ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα εἶναι νομίζων, ὑπὲρ

Hs ἱκεσίαις καὶ λιταῖς εἴωθεν ἐξευμενίζεσθαι τὸν
ἡγεμόνα ποτνιώμενος τῆς ἐπιεικοῦς καὶ ἵλεω
φύσεως αὐτοῦ μεταδιδόναι τῷ γενομένῳ.

98 XVIII. Ταῦθ᾽ ὑπειπὼν προσνομοθετεῖ κελεύων
τὸν προσιόντα τῷ βωμῷ καὶ ψαύοντα θυσιῶν, ἐν ᾧ
χρόνῳ τέτακται τὰς ἱερὰς λειτουργίας ἐπιτελεῖν,
μήτ᾽ οἶνον μήτε τι ἄλλο μέθυσμα πίνειν, τεττάρων

1 So Cohn combining the τὸν υἱὸν of some authorities with
the ro πᾶν of others. On ἑερωμένον see App. p. 620.

@ See Lev. x. 8-11, and cf. De Ebr. 130 f.
154

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 95-98

a copy of the universe, a piece of work of marvellous
beauty to the eye and the mind. To the eye it
presents a most amazing appearance transcending
any woven work that we possess in variety and costli-
ness, to the mind the philosophical conceptions which
its parts suggest. For it expresses the wish first 96
that the high priest should have in evidence upon
him an image of the All, that so by constantly con-
templating it he should render his own life worthy of
the sum of things, secondly that in performing his
holy office he should have the whole universe as his
fellow-ministrant. And very right and fit it is that
he who is consecrated to the Father of the world
should take with him also that Father’s son, the
universe, for the service of the Creator and Begetter.
There is also a third truth symbolized 97

by the holy vesture which must not be passed over
in silence. Among the other nations the priests are
accustomed to offer prayers and sacrifices for their
kinsmen and friends and fellow-countrymen only,
but the high priest of the Jews makes prayers and
gives thanks not only on behalf of the whole human
race but also for the parts of nature, earth, water, air,
fire. For he holds the world to be, as in very truth
it is, his country, and in its behalf he is wont to pro-
pitiate the Ruler with supplication and intercession,
beseeching Him to make His creature a partaker of
His own kindly and merciful nature.

XVIII.¢ After saying this by way of prelude, he 98
proceeds to lay down another statute commanding
that he who approaches the altar and handles the sacri-
fices should not during the time in which it is his duty
to perform the sacred rites drink wine or any other
intoxicant, and this for four most cogent reasons :

155

99

100

[228]

101

PHILO

ἕνεκα τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων, ὄκνου καὶ λήθης καὶ
ὕπνου καὶ ἀφροσύνης. ἄκρατος γὰρ τὰς μὲν τοῦ
σώματος δυνάμεις ἀνιεὶς δυσκινητότερα τὰ μέλη
ποιεῖ καὶ ὀκνηροτέρους ἀπεργάζεται καὶ βίᾳ κατα-
δαρθάνειν ἀναγκάζει, τοὺς δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τόνους
ἐπιχαλῶν λήθης ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀφροσύνης αἴτιος γίνεται"
νήφοντος δὲ τά τε μέρη τοῦ σώματος ἐπελαῴφρι-
ζόμενα εὐκινητότερα αἵ τε αἰσθήσεις καθαρώτεραι
καὶ εἱλικρινέστεραι ὃ τε νοῦς ἐξυωπέστερος, ὡς καὶ
προϊδέσθαι πράγματα δύνασθαι καὶ ἃ πρότερον
εἶδεν ἀπομνημονεῦσαι. συνόλως μὲν οὖν τὴν οἴνου
χρῆσιν ἅπασι τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀλυσιτελεστάτην
ὑποληπτέον, ψυχῆς πιεζομένης, αἰσθήσεων ἀμαυ-
ρουμένων, βαρυνομένου σώματος---ἐλεύθερον γὰρ
καὶ ἄφετον οὐδὲν ἐᾷ τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἑκάστῳ
πρὸς ὃ πέφυκεν ἐμπόδιός ἐστιν,--ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἁγι-
στείαις καὶ ἱερουργίαις τὸ βλάβος | ἀργαλεώτερον,
ὅσῳ καὶ τὸ περὶ θεὸν ἐξαμαρτεῖν τοῦ περὶ ἄνθρωπον
ἀφορητότερον. ὅθεν εἰκότως προστέτακται νηφα-
λίους" θύειν, “ εἰς διαστολὴν καὶ διάκρισιν ἁγίων καὶ
βεβήλων καὶ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων ᾿᾿ καὶ νομίμων
καὶ παρανόμων.

ΧΙΧ. ᾿Επεὶ δ᾽ ὁ ἱερεὺς πολὺ πρότερον ἀνήρ ἐστι
καὶ ταῖς πρὸς συνουσίαν ὁρμαῖς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὀφείλει
χρῆσθαι, γάμον αὐτῷ μνᾶται παρθένου καθαρᾶς καὶ
ἐκ καθαρῶν γονέων καὶ πάππων καὶ προγόνων εἴς
τε καλοκἀγαθίαν καὶ εὐγένειαν ἀριστίνδην ἐπι-

1 uss. νηφάλια.

@ The words in inverted commas are an almost exact

156

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 98-101

the dangers of slackness, forgetfulness, sleep and

foolish behaviour. For strong drink enervates the 99

bodily faculties, and makes the limbs more difficult
to move, increases the tendency to sluggishness in
a man, and irresistibly forces him to fall asleep, while
by relaxing the sinews of the soul it produces both
forgetfulness and foolish conduct. When he is sober,
his bodily parts are buoyant and easier to move, the
senses are clearer and brighter and the mind keener-
sighted, so that it can foresee events and recount what
it has seen in the past. In general, indeed, wine
must be regarded as very unprofitable for every side
of life, since it presses hard upon the soul, dulls the
senses and weighs down the body, leaving none of
our faculties free and untrammelled but hampering
the natural activity of each. But in religious rites
and ceremonies the mischief is graver in the same
degree as it is more intolerable to offend against our
duty to God than our duty toman. Thus it is a very
proper enactment that the officiants at the sacrifice
should fast from wine, “to discern and distinguish
between holy and profane, clean and unclean,’ lawful
and unlawful.?

XIX. Since a priest is a man well before he® is
a priest and must and should feel the instinct for
mating, Moses arranges for his marriage with a pure
virgin whose parents and grandparents and ancestors
are equally pure, highly distinguished for the excel-

quotation of Lev. x. 10, but the addition “lawful and
unlawful,” also represents v. 11 ‘‘to teach the sons of Israel
all the statutes”? (Lxx νόμιμα).

ὃ Or “primarily a man, and only secondarily a priest,”
πολὺ πρότερον not indicating time or even importance, but
that the genus comes before the species.

157

100

101

102

103

104

PHILO

κριθέντων. πόρνῃ μὲν γὰρ καὶ βεβήλῳ σῶμα καὶ
ψυχὴν οὐδὲ προσελθεῖν' ἐᾷ, κἂν τὴν ἐργασίαν ἀπο-
θεμένη σχῆμα κόσμιον καὶ σῶφρον ὑποδύηται, διὰ
τὸ τὴν ἀρχαίαν προαίρεσιν ἀνίερον αὐτῇ γενέσθαι.
αὕτη δὲ πρὸς μὲν τὰ ἄλλα ἐπιτιμίαν ἐχέτω σπου-
δάσασα μιασμάτων καθαρεῦσαι" μετάνοια γὰρ
ἀδικημάτων ἐπαινετόν' καὶ μηδεὶς ἕτερος αὐτὴν
ἄγεσθαι κεκωλύσθω, ἱερεῖ δὲ μὴ προσίτω" τὰ γὰρ
ἱερωσύνης ἐξαίρετα δίκαια συμφωνίαν ἐπιζητούσης
τὴν ἀπὸ γενέσεως [ἀρχῆς] ἀ ἄχρι τελευτῆς ἀνυπαίτιον.
εὔηθες γὰρ διὰ μὲν τὰς ἐκ τῶν τραυμάτων ἐπιγενο-
μένας οὐλὰς ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν εἴργεσθαί τινας
ἱερωσύνης, at σύμβολον ἀτυχίας, οὐ μοχθηρίας,
εἰσί, τὰς δὲ μὴ κατ᾽ ἀνάγκην μόνον ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ὅτε
καὶ ἑκουσίοις γνώμαις πεπρακυίας τὴν ἰδίαν ὥραν,
ἐπειδήπερ ὀψὲ καὶ μόλις μετέγνωσαν, εὐθὺς ἀπὸ
ἐραστῶν ἱερεῦσιν ἁρμόζεσθαι καὶ ἀπὸ χαμαιτυ-
πείων εἰς ἱερὰ χωρία μετοικίζεσθαι" μένουσι γὰρ
οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν μετανοούντων οὐλαὶ
καὶ τύποι τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀδικημάτων. εὖ καὶ
παγκάλως ἐν ἑτέροις διείρηται “ μηδὲ μίσθωμα
πόρνης eloxopilew els τὸ ἱερόν ” ᾿ καίτοι τό γε
νόμισμα καθ᾽ αὑτὸ οὐκ ἔνοχον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν

λαβοῦσαν καὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐφ᾽ ἢ δέδοται. σχολῇ γ᾽

1 MSS. προσιδεῖν.

* See Lev. xxi. 7 (not as Cohn, 13, 14, which refer to the
high priest), ““ They shall not take a woman that is a harlot
or profane, or a woman put away from her husband.” By a
‘pure virgin’ Philo, as appears from § 108, means that if
she is unmarried she must be pure. The instruction to
inquire into her lineage has no scriptural authority. But
Josephus, Contra Apion. i. 31, entirely supports it as a

158

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 102-104

lence of their conduct and lineage.* For a harlot is 102

profane in body and soul, even if she has discarded her
trade and assumed a decent and chaste demeanour,
and he is forbidden even to approach her, since her
old way of living was unholy. Let such a one indeed
retain in other respects her civic rights as she has
been at pains to purge herself from her defilements,
for repentance from wrongdoing is praiseworthy.
Nor let anyone else be prevented from taking her
in marriage, but let her not come near to the priest.
For the rights and duties of the priesthood are of a
special kind, and the office demands an even tenor
of blamelessness from birth to death. It would be
foolish if, while the bodily scars which wounds leave
behind them, marks of misfortune and not of de-
pravity, preclude one from the priesthood, the women
who have sold their personal charms not only under
compulsion but sometimes by free and deliberate
choice, should just because of a belated and reluctant
repentance pass straight from their lovers to wedlock
with the priests and exchange the stews for a lodging
in holy ground. For in the souls of the repentant
there remain, in spite of all, the scars and prints of
their old misdeeds.’ It is well and admirably said in
another place,° “‘ Neither shall the hire of a harlot be
brought into the Temple,” though the coins are not
guilty in themselves but only because of the recipient
and the business for which it was given her. Surely

practice, *‘ He must inquire into her pedigree, obtaining the
genealogy from the archives and producing a number of
witnesses.” Josephus goes on to say that the practice is
observed among the Jews of Egypt, Babylonia, and else-
where, as much as in Palestine.
» See App. p. 620.
¢ Deut. xxiii. 18.

159

1

1

03

04

PHILO

ἂν ἔτι προσοῖτό τις εἰς κοινωνίαν ἱερέων yuvairas,
ὧν Kal τὰ χρήματα βέβηλα καὶ παράσημα, εἰ καὶ
ταῖς ὕλαις καὶ τοῖς χαρακτῆρσι δόκιμα.

105 XX. Ta μὲν οὖν περὶ γάμον οὕτως ἠκρίβωται τῷ
ἀρχιερεῖ, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ χήραν ἐφεῖται γαμεῖν αὐτῷ,
οὔτε τετελευτηκότος ἀνδρὸς μονωθεῖσαν οὔτε ἀπ-
ηλλαγμένην ἔτι ζῶντος, ἵνα πρῶτον μὲν εἰς ἄβατον
καὶ καθαρὰν ἄρουραν ὁ ἱερὸς σπόρος χωρῇ καὶ
μηδεμίαν κρᾶσιν αἱ γοναὶ πρὸς ἑτέραν οἰκίαν λαμ-
βάνωσιν, εἶτα δ᾽ ὅπως ἀκακωτάταις καὶ
ἀδιαστρόφοις ταῖς ψυχαῖς συνερχόμενοι ῥᾳδίως δια-

[229] πλάττωσι τὰ ἤθη καὶ τοὺς τρόπους αὐτῶν: ὁλκοὶ
γὰρ καὶ εὐάγωγοι διάνοιαι παρθένων πρὸς ἀρετήν,

106 εἰς διδασκαλίαν ἑτοιμόταται" ἡ δ᾽ ἑτέρου πεῖραν
ἀνδρὸς λαβοῦσα κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἀπειθεστέρα πρὸς
μάθησιν, ἅτε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀκραιφνεστάτην οὐκ ἔχουσα
καθάπερ τινὰ λελειασμένον κηρὸν εἰς τρανότητα τῶν
ἐγγραφησομένων δογμάτων, ἀλλὰ τραχεῖαν ὑπὸ
τῶν προεγχαραχθέντων τύπων, ot δυσεξάλειπτοι
παραμένοντες ἢ οὐ παραδέχονται σφραγῖδας ἑτέρας
ἢ παραδεξάμενοι συγχέουσι ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἀνωμα-

107 λίαις. παρθένον οὖν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ἀγέσθω γάμων
ἁγνήν" λέγω δὲ παρθένον οὐ μόνον ἡ μὴ ἕτερος
ὡμίλησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐφ᾽ ἡἧ μηδεὶς ἄλλος ἀνὴρ
ὠνομάσθη διά τινων ὁμολογιῶν, κἂν ἁγνεύῃ τὸ
σῶμα.

@ Lev. xxi. 18, 14.
> 2,6. successive high priests. The use of the plural is
odd and might suggest that it refers to the couple; and so

160

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 104-107

one would not care to admit to partnership with the
priests the women whose very money is profane and
regarded as base, even though the metal and the
stamp is true.

XX. *So strict are the regulations laid down for the 105
marriage of the high priest that he is not even per-
mitted to marry a widow, whether her isolation is due
to the death of her husband or divorce from him while
still alive. This is laid down first in order that the
holy seed may pass into pure and untrodden soil and
the issue receive no admixture with another family.

Secondly, that by mating with souls
entirely innocent and unperverted they? may find it
easy to mould the characters and dispositions of their
wives, for the minds of virgins are easily influenced
and attracted to virtue and very ready to be taught.
But she who has had experience of another husband 106
is naturally less amenable to instruction. For her
soul is not one of the completely simple kind like a
sheet of wax levelled to show clearly the lessons to
be inscribed upon it, but rather like one roughened
by the imprints already scored upon it, which resist
effacement and either do not yield to the dint of other
seals or, if they do, confuse them with their own in-
dentations. Let the high priest then take a virgin 107
who is innocent of marriage. And when I say
“ virgin ’’ I exclude not only one with whom another
man has had intercourse but also one with whom any
other has been declared to have an agreement of
betrothal, even though her body is that of a maid
intact.°
apparently Heinemann takes it, but it seems to me imposs-
ible that Philo should be ‘supposing that the high priest’s
character is moulded ’by his wife.

¢ See on Spec. Leg. iii. 72 (App.).

VOL. VII M 161

108

109

PHILO

XXI. Τοῖς δὲ κατὰ μέρος ἱερεῦσι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα
περὶ γάμων διατέτακται ταὐτὰ ἃ καὶ τοῖς τὴν
μεγίστην ἔχουσιν ἱερωσύνην, ἐφεῖται δ᾽ οὐ μόνον
παρθένους ἀλλὰ καὶ χήρας, οὐ πάσας ἀλλ᾽ ὧν τε-
τελευτήκασιν ἄνδρες, μετ᾽ ἀδείας ἄγεσθαι. φιλο-
νεικίας γὰρ καὶ στάσεις ἐκ τοῦ βίου τῶν ἱερέων
οἴεται δεῖν ὁ νόμος ἀναιρεῖν: πρὸς μὲν οὖν τοὺς
ζῶντας γένοιντ᾽ ἂν ἴσως ἔριδες ἐκ πάθους γυναι-
κείου, ζηλοτυπίας, τοῖς δ᾽ ἀποθανοῦσι συναποθνή-
σκει καὶ τὰ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς δευτέρους ἄνδρας ἔχθρας.
ἄλλως τε τὸν ἀρχιερέα πλείονος ἐδικαίωσεν ἁγι-
στείας καὶ καθάρσεως ὥσπερ ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς ἄλλοις
καὶ ἐν γάμου κοινωνίᾳ μεταλαχεῖν, οὐκ ἐάσας ὅτι
μὴ κόρην ἀγεσθαι: τοῖς δὲ τῆς δευτέρας τάξεως
ὑπανῆκε τὰ περὶ συνόδους γυναικῶν, ἐφιεὶς καὶ
πεπειραμένας ἑτέρων ἀνδρῶν ἐγγυᾶσθαι.

110 XXII. πρὸς δὲ τούτῳ καὶ τὸ γένος ἠκρίβωσε τῶν

iil

“A A / “A > A
μελλουσῶν γαμεῖσθαι, προστάξας TH μὲν ἀρχιερεῖ
“A 4 9 A €
μνᾶσθαι μὴ παρθένον μόνον ἀλλὰ Kat ἱέρειαν ἐ
e U > 9 A > » \ 4 A “--
ἱερέων, ἵν᾿ ἐκ μιᾶς οἰκίας καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τοῦ
“- Ss ’ A 4
αὐτοῦ αἵματος ὦσι νυμφίος τε Kal νύμφη πρὸς
3 4 > 7 “A
ἁρμονίαν ἐπιδειξάμενοι παρ᾽ ὅλον τὸν βίον κρᾶσιν
AAG , > / δὲ A LAA A
ἠθῶν βεβαιοτάτην. ἐπετράπη de τοῖς ἄλλοις Kat

α Or “οταϊηαγυ.," So Heinemann; Mangey “ privatis.”
But all these are strange uses for the phrase which should
mean the several or particular priests, like of κατὰ μέρος νόμοι.
Possibly it means the priests who stood by themselves as a
μέρος of the whole class, the other μέρος being the high priest,
and so almost=“‘as a class.”” So perhaps ἄρχοντος ἐν μέρει,
§ 226.

> Lev. xxi. 7. The permission is reasonably deduced from
the prohibition to marry the divorced.

162

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 108-111

XXI. As for the subordinate? priests, while the
other marriage regulations are the same for them as
for those who hold the highest priesthood, they are
permitted to wed with immunity not only virgins
but widows,’ though only such as have lost their
husbands by death. This limitation is due to the
desire of the law to remove animosities and feuds
from the lives of the priests. While the first husband
lives, quarrels might be engendered by the feminine
proclivity to jealousy. His death carries with it the
death of any hostility to the second husband. As for
the distinction between priests and high priests, the
view of the law was that the greater sanctity and
purity required of the latter in all other matters
should be extended to his choice of a partner in
marriage, and therefore it forbade him to take to
wife any but a maiden. But to those of the second
rank it made concessions as to their relations with
women and permitted them to espouse such as had
had experience of other husbands.

XXII. Further, it made clear distinctions as to the
birth of the intended wives. The high priest must
not propose marriage save to one who is not only a
virgin but a priestess descended from priests,? so that
bride and bridegroom may be of one house and in a
sense of the same blood and so, harmoniously united,
shew a lifelong blending of temperament firmly
established. But the rest are permitted to marry

¢ As the jealousy is clearly that felt by one or both of the
husbands, I do not see the point of “‘feminine’”’ unless it
means that such a feeling is natural in a woman, but dis-
graceful to a man. Some word expressing “excited by a
passion for women,”’ like γυναικομανοῦς, seems to be wanted.

@ So Philo interprets Lev. xxi. 14 ἐκ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ and in
the next verse, ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ (ἘΝ, “ of his own people’’).

163

108

109

110

111

[230]

112

PHILO

μὴ ἱερέων γαμεῖν θυγατέρας, τῇ μὲν ὅτι μικρὰ
τούτων καθάρσια, τῇ δ᾽ ὅτι τὸ ἔθνος οὐκ ἐβουλήθη
γενεᾶς εἰς ἅπαν ἱερατικῆς ἀμοιρῆσαί τε καὶ παν-
τελῶς ἀπεζεῦχθαι.: δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐκώλυσε τοὺς
ἄλλους ἱερέας ἐπιγαμίας ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ
τοῦ ἔθνους, | αἵπερ εἰσὶ δεύτεραι συγγένειαι" γαμ-
βροὶ γὰρ ἀνθ᾽ υἱῶν πενθεροῖς καὶ ἀντὶ πατέρων
γαμβροῖς πενθεροί.

XXIII. Ta μὲν δὴ περὶ γάμου ταῦτα καὶ τὰ
τούτοις ὅμοια χάριν παίδων γενέσεως. ἐπεὶ δ᾽
ἕπεται γενέσει φθορά, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τελευταῖς

e “~ ὔ 4 A > 49
ἀνέγραψε τοῖς ἱερεῦσι νόμους, κελεύσας μὴ ἐφ
e

113

114

ἅπασιν αὐτοὺς μιαίνεσθαι τοῖς ὁπωσοῦν ἢ κατὰ
φιλίαν ἢ κατὰ συγγένειαν φκειωμέναις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ
μόνοις πατράσι καὶ μητράσιν, υἱοῖς καὶ θυγατράσιν,
ἀδελφοῖς καὶ ἀδελφαῖς παρθένοις. τὸν δ᾽ ἀρχιερέα
παντὸς πένθους ὑπεξείλετο: καὶ μήποτ᾽ εἰκότως"
τὰς μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ἱερέων ὑπηρεσίας ἀνθ᾽
ἑτέρων ἕτεροι λειτουργεῖν δύνανται, ὡς, κἂν πεν-
θῶσί τινες, μηδὲν τῶν ἐξ ἔθους ὑστερίζειν, τὰς δὲ
τοῦ ἀρχιερέως οὐδενὶ δρᾶν ἐφεῖται. παρ᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν
ἀμίαντος ἀεὶ διατελείτω μὴ προσαπτόμενος νεκροῦ
σώματος, ὅπως τὰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους εὐχὰς καὶ
θυσίας ἕτοιμος ὧν ἐν καιροῖς τοῖς προσήκουσιν
ἀκωλύτως ἐπιτελῇ. καὶ γὰρ ἄλλως προσκεκληρω-
μένος θεῷ καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς τάξεως γεγονὼς ταξίαρχος
ὀφείλει πάντων ἀλλοτριοῦσθαι τῶν ἐν γενέσει, μὴ

1 mss. ἀποζεῦξαι.

* Deduced from the absence of the prohibition which Philo
believes to be imposed on the high priest.
> καθάρσια usually means purificatory rites, but here, like

164

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 111-114

the daughters of others than priests % partly because
the restrictions required to® maintain their purity
are slight, partly because the law did not wish that
the nation should be denied altogether a share in the
priestly clanship or be entirely excluded from it.
This was the reason why he did not forbid the other
priests to intermarry with the laity of the nation, for
intermarriage is kinship in the second degree. Sons-
in-law are sons to their fathers-in-law, and the latter
are fathers to the former.

XXIII. These and similar regulations as to mar- ]12
riage are intended to promote the generation of
children, but since generation is followed by dissolu-
tion, he has laid down laws for the priests dealing
with deaths. In these he ordains that they should
not incur defilement for all connected with them by
friendship or kinship whatever the degree, but only
for fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers
and maiden sisters. But the high priest is precluded 113
from all outward mourning and surely with good
reason.* For the services of the other priests can be
performed by deputy, so that if some are in mourning
none of the customary rites need suffer. But no one
else is allowed to perform the functions of a high
priest and therefore he must always continue unde-
filed, never coming in contact-with a corpse, so that
he may be ready to offer his prayers and sacrifices at
the proper time without hindrance on behalf of the
nation. Further, since he is dedicated to God and 114
has been made captain of the sacred regiment, he
ought to be estranged from all the ties of birth and

κάθαρσις in ὃ 109, seems to be used of what keeps a person
pure.
¢ See Lev. xxi. 1-3. 4 See Lev. xxi. 10-12.

165

PHILO

γονέων, μὴ τέκνων, μὴ ἀδελφῶν εὐνοίας οὕτως
ἡττώμενος, ὡς ἢ παρελθεῖν ἢ ὑπερθέσθαι τι τῶν

115 ὁσίων, 6 πραχθῆναι πάντως αὐτίκα ἄμεινον. κε-
λεύει δὲ μήτε τὰ ἱμάτια περιρρήττειν ἐπὶ τοῖς
οἰκειοτάτοις ἀποθανοῦσι μήτε ἀφαιρεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς
κεφαλῆς τὰ παράσημα τῆς ἱερωσύνης μήτε συνόλως
ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων ἐξιέναι κατὰ πρόφασιν πένθους, ἵνα
καὶ τὸν τόπον αἰδούμενος καὶ τὰ περὶ ἑαυτὸν προ-
κοσμήματα οἷς ἀνέστεπται, κρείττων οἴκτου γενό-

116 μενος, ἄλυπος εἰς ἀεὶ διατελῇ. βούλεται γὰρ αὐτὸν
ὁ νόμος μείζονος μεμοιρᾶσθαι φύσεως ἢ κατ᾽ dv-
θρωπον, ἐγγυτέρω προσιόντα τῆς θείας, μεθόριον,
εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς λέγειν, ἀμφοῖν, ἵνα διὰ μέσου τινὸς
ἄνθρωποι μὲν ἱλάσκωνται θεόν, θεὸς δὲ τὰς χάριτας
ἀνθρώποις ὑποδιακόνῳ τινὶ χρώμενος ὀρέγῃ καὶ
χορηγῇ.

117 XXIV. Ταῦτ᾽ εἰπὼν ἑξῆς εὐθὺς" νομοθετεῖ περὶ
τῶν χρησομένων ταῖς ἀπαρχαῖς. ἐὰν οὖν τις, φησί,
τῶν ἱερέων ὀφθ αλμοὺς ἢ ἢ χεῖρας ἢ βάσεις ἡ ἢ τι μέρος
ἄλλο πηρωθῇ τοῦ σώματος ἣ καί τινα μῶμον
ἐνδέξηται, λειτουργιῶν μὲν ἀνεχέτω διὰ τὰς ἐγ-
γενομένας κῆρας, τὰ δὲ κοινὰ τῶν ἱερέων γέρα

118 καρπούσθω διὰ τὴν ἀνυπαίτιον εὐγένειαν. ἐὰν
μέντοι λέπραι τινὸς ἐξανθήσασαι κατάσχωσιν ἢ καὶ
γονορρυὴς τις γένηται τῶν ἱερέων, μήτε τραπέζης
ἱερᾶς ψαυέτω μήτε τῶν προκειμένων ἄθλων τῷ
γένει, μέχρις ἂν ἥ τε ῥύσις ἐπίσχῃ καὶ ἡ λέπρα
μεταβαλοῦσα τῷ τῆς ὑγιοῦς σαρκὸς ἐξομοιωθῇ

1 Some ss. ἑξῆς, others εὐθὺς.

@ Cf. De Som. ii. 188.
> See Lev. xxi. 17 f., already cited on ὃ 80. Here the stress

166

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 114-118

not be so overcome by affection to parents or children
or brothers as to neglect or postpone any one of the
religious duties which it were well to perform without
any delay. He forbids him also either to rend his
garments for his dead, even the nearest and dearest,
or to take from his head the insignia of the priesthood,
or on any account to leave the sacred precincts under
the pretext of mourning. Thus, showing reverence
both to the place and to the personal ornaments with
which he is decked, he will have his feeling of pity
under control and continue throughout free from
sorrow. Tor the law desires him to be endued with
a nature higher than the merely human and to
approximate to the Divine, on the border-line,* we
may truly say, between the two, that men may have a
mediator through whom they may propitiate God and
God a servitor to employ in extending the abundance
of His boons to men.

XXIV. These rules are followed directly by his
legislation on those who are to share in the first-
fruits. °If any of the priests, he tells us, has lost the
use of his eyes or hands or feet or any part of his body,
or suffers from any defect, he must refrain from
officiating because of the afflictions which have be-
fallen him, but he may enjoy the privileges common
to the priests because his pure lineage still remains
without reproach. ‘If, however, leprous eruptions
appear upon him or he is suffering from seminal issue,
the priest must not touch the holy table or any of the
prizes to which his clan is entitled until in the one case
the issue has ceased, in the other the leprosy is con-
verted into a resemblance to the hue of healthy flesh.

is on v. 22 “‘ the gifts of God are most holy and he shall eat
of the holy ” (xxx). ¢ See Lev. xxii. 4-7.

167

115

116

118

PHILO

119 χρώματι. Kav προσάψηται μέντοι τις ὅτου δήποτε
[231] τῶν | ἀκαθάρτων ἱερεὺς ἢ καὶ νύκτωρ, οἷα φιλεῖ

πολλάκις, ὀνειρώξῃ, τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην μηδὲν
προσφερέσθω τῶν ,καθιερωθέντων, λουσάμενος δ᾽
ἐπιγενομένης ἑσπέρας “χρῆσθαι μὴ κεκωλύσθω.

120 πάροικος δ᾽ ἱερέως καὶ μισθωτὸς εἰργέσθω τῶν

121

122

ἀπαρχῶν, ὁ μὲν πάροικος, ἐπειδὴ γείτονες τὰ πολλὰ"
συνέστιοι καὶ ὁμοτράπεζοι: δέος γάρ, μὴ προῆταί
τις τὰ καθιερωθέντα προφάσει καταχρησάμενος εἰς
ἀσέβειαν ἀκαίρῳ φιλανθρωπίᾳ: μεταδοτέον γὰρ οὐ
πᾶσι πάντων, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐφαρμοζόντων τοῖς ληψο-
μένοις" εἰ δὲ μή, τὸ κάλλιστον καὶ λυσιτελέστατον
τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, τάξις, ἀναιρεθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ
βλαβερωτάτου παρευημερηθεῖσα, συγχύσεως. εἰ
γὰρ ἴσον μὲν μέρος" ἐν ὁλκάσιν οἴσονται ναῦται
κυβερνήταις, ἴσον δὲ ἐν ταῖς μακραῖς τριήρεσι
τριηράρχοις" καὶ ναυάρχοις ἐρέται καὶ τὸ ἐπι ατικόν,
ἐν δὲ στρατοπέδοις ἴσον ἱππεῖς μὲν ἱππάρχοις,

ὁπλῖται δὲ ταξιάρχοις, λοχαγοὶ δὲ στρατηγοῖς, ἐν

δὲ πόλεσι κρινόμενοι δικασταῖς καὶ βουλευταὶ προ-
βούλοις καὶ συνόλως ἄρχουσιν ἰδιῶται, ταραχαὶ καὶ
στάσεις γενήσονται καὶ ἡ (διὰ λόγων ἱ ἰσότης τὴν
ov ἔργων ἀνισότητα γεννήσει" τὸ γὰρ τοῖς τὰς ἀξίας
ἀνομοίοις ὅμοια. ἀπονέμειν ἄνισον, τὸ δ᾽ ἄνισον
πηγὴ κακῶν. οὗ χάριν καὶ τὰ γέρα τῶν ἱερέων οὐ
δοτέον ὥσπερ ἄλλοις οὐδὲ τοῖς παροίκοις ἕνεκα τοῦ

1 Some Mss. μὴ πάντες γείτονες, and so Mangey, who
perhaps understood it to mean that if the neighbour is one
who habitually shared the table of the priest, the danger
would be avoided.

2 Some mss. omit μὲν, the others μέρος.

3 Some mss. omit τριήρεσι, the others τριηράρχοις.

168

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 119-122

Further, if a priest touches any impure object or, as 119

often happens, has an emission during the night, he
must not during that day partake of consecrated food
but bathe himself, and after sundown he should not

be debarred from its use. But the first-fruits must 120

be kept out of the hands of a dweller near the priest
or his hired servant ; the first is mentioned because
board and hospitality are usually given to neighbours,
and there is a danger that the consecrated meats may
be profaned ὃ through an untimely generosity abused
as a pretext for impiety. Forwe must not share every-
thing with everyone, but restrict our gifts to what are
suitable to the recipient. Otherwise the most ex-
cellent and valuable thing which life possesses, order,
will be destroyed, vanquished by its most mischievous
foe, confusion. For if sailors on merchant vessels
were remunerated equally with the pilots, or oarsmen
and marines on men-of-war with captains and
admirals, or cavalry soldiers in armies with their
commanders, or rank and file with their officers, or
regimental captains with generals, or in cities litigants
with judges, councillors with their chairmen, or in
general private individuals with rulers, disturbances
and factions would arise and the nominal equality
would engender an actual inequality. For like pay
for unlike worth is inequality, and inequality is the
fountain of evil. On the same principle the general
law against giving away the prerogatives of the
priests should be extended to the neighbours also.
Otherwise they will be handling the forbidden meats

@ See Lev. xxii. 10. Philo evidently takes πάροικος -ΞΞ

12]

122

‘‘ neighbour ”’ (a sense which the word no doubt can bear). |

E.V. “‘sojourner,’’ presumably meaning a stranger residing
temporarily (?) with the priest.
> Lit. “lest one throw away.”

169

PHILO

A 9 ζω
γειτνιᾶν ἐφαψομένοις ὧν οὐ θέμις" οὐ γὰρ οἰκίας

123 ἀλλὰ γένους ἐστὶν ἡ τιμή. ΧΧΥ. ὁμοίως

μέντοι μηδὲ μισθωτῷ μηδεὶς παρεχέτω μήτε μισθὸν
μήθ᾽ ὑπηρεσίας ἀμοιβὴν ἱ ἱερὸν γέρας" χρήσεται γὰρ
ὁ “λαβὼν ἐ ἔστιν ὅτε πρὸς ἃ μὴ δ εἴ, βέβηλα τὰ τῆς
εὐγενείας ἄθλα καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν νεὼν λειτουργίας

124 ἀπεργασάμενος. δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν οὐδ᾽ ἀλλογενεῖ

125

συνόλως ὁ νόμος ἐπιτρέπει μεταλαμβάνειν τῶν
ἁγίων, κἂν εὐπατρίδης ὧν τυγχάνῃ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων
καὶ πρὸς ἀνδρῶν καὶ πρὸς γυναικῶν ἀνεπίληπτος
[ὦν], ἵνα αἷ τιμαὶ μὴ νοθεύωνται, μένωσι δ᾽ ἐν τῇ
ἱερατικῇ τάξει βεβαίως φυλαττόμεναι. καὶ γὰρ
ἄτοπον τὰς μὲν θυσίας καὶ ἱερουργίας καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα
περὶ τὸν βωμὸν ἁγιστεύεται μὴ πᾶσιν ἀλλὰ τοῖς
ἱερεῦσι μόνοις ἐπιτετράφθαι, τὰ δὲ ἀντὶ τούτων
ἄθλα κοινὰ γίνεσθαι καὶ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων, ὡς δέον
μὲν πόνοις πολλοῖς καὶ καμάτοις καὶ ταῖς μεθ᾽
ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ φροντίσιν ἀποτρύχειν τοὺς
ἱερέας, τὰ δ᾽ ἄθλα κοινὰ καὶ τοῖς ἀργοῦσιν ἀπο-

’ A
126 φαίνειν. οἰκογενεῖ δέ, φησίν, Kal apyv-

127

4 4 4 e \ ’ \
ρωνήτῳ μεταδιδότω δεσπότης ἱερεὺς σιτίων Kal
“-- 3 “-- “- “-
ποτῶν ἐκ τῶν ἀπαρχῶν: πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι θεράποντι
4 A 4 A ¢e
πόρος els ὁ δεσπότης, ὁ δὲ τοῦ δεσπότου κλῆρος at
e \ 4 > a 3 4 \ ~
ἱεραὶ φιλανθρωπίαι, ἐξ ὧν ἀνάγκη τὸν δοῦλον
4 4 ϑ 4 4 4
τρέφεσθαι" δεύτερον δ᾽ ὅτι τὰ γενησόμενα πάντως
ἀνάγκη ὃρᾶν ἑκόντας" ot δ᾽ οἰκέται, κἂν μὴ θέ-
4 \ 4
Awpev, ATE ἀεὶ συνόντες καὶ συνδιαιτώμενοι, συτία

@ See Lev. xxii. 10: ~Lxx ἀλλογενής, E.V. “ stranger,’’ mean-
ing “one who is not a priest.”” The word might mean
‘foreigner,’ but as the Lxx uses the same word in v. 12,
where Philo interprets it as a non-priest (§ 129), he probably
means the same here.

170

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 122-127

Just because they live in the vicinity. For the
privilege belongs not to a dwelling-house, but to a
caste. XXV. In the same way no one
must bestow the sacred prerogative on a hired ser-
vant, either as his hire or in exchange for his service.
For he will sometimes use the gift for improper pur-
poses, thus profaning the rewards attached to pure
lineage and the ministry of the sanctuary. This is the
reason why no one at all of alien race,* even though
he be nobly born and of the original stock, without
flaw either on the male or the female line, is per-
mitted by the law to share in the sacred things, in
order that the privileges may not be tainted with
bastardy but remain the securely guarded possessions
of the priestly order. For it would be preposterous
that while the sacrifices and sacred rites and all the
ceremonies of the altar are committed not to all but
to the priests alone, the rewards assigned to these
offices should become common property and at the
service of chance comers, as though it were right to
wear out the priests with toil and labour and the cares
that beset them night and day and at the same time
to allow their rewards to be shared by idlers.

> But the home-bred or purchased slave, he proceeds,
should, be given his share in food and drink from the
first-fruits by the priest, his master. First, because
the servant has no resources but his master, and that
master’s estate consists of the sacred gifts of charity
by which the slave must necessarily be maintained.
Secondly, what is sure to come to pass anyhow should
most certainly be done voluntarily. Our domestics
are always with us and share our lives. They prepare

> See Lev. xxii. 11.

171

123

μ

24

125

126

127

128

129

180

131

PHILO

| re καὶ ποτὰ καὶ ὄψα τοῖς δεσπόταις προευτρεπι-
ζόμενοι καὶ τραπέζαις ἐφεστῶτες καὶ τὰ λείψανα
ἐκκομίζοντες, κἂν μὴ φανερῶς λαμβάνωσι, λάθρα
γοῦν ὑφαιρήσονται, κλέπτειν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης
βιασθέντες, ὡς ἀνθ᾽ ἑνὸς ἐγκλήματος, εἴπερ ἐστὶν
ἀδίκημα τὸ ἐκ τῶν δεσποτικῶν τρέφεσθαι, καὶ
ἕτερον προσκατασκευάζεσθαι, κλοπήν, ἵνα οἷα
φῶρες πρὸ τῶν' ἀνυπαιτίως ζώντων ἀπολαύσωσι
τῶν καθιερωθέντων, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀτοπώτατον'᾽ τρίτον
κἀκεῖνο χρὴ λογίζεσθαι, ὅτι τὰ τῶν ἀπαρχῶν οὐ
παρόσον ἐπινέμεται τοῖς οἰκέταις ὀλυγωρηθήσεται,
διὰ τὸν δεσποτικὸν φόβον" ἱκανὸς γὰρ οὗτος ἐπι-
στομίζειν τήν τινων εὐχέρειαν ῥᾳθυμεῖν οὐκ ἐφιείς.

ΧΧΥΙ. Ταῦθ᾽ ὑπειπὼν φιλανθρωπίας μεστὸν
νόμον ἑξῆς ἀναγράφει. ἐὰν θυγάτηρ, φησίν, ἱερέως
γημαμένη μὴ ἱερεῖ χηρεύσῃ, τελευτήσαντος ἀνδρὸς
ἢ καὶ ἔτι BvTOS, ἄπαις καταλειφθεῖσα, πάλιν ἐπὶ
τὸν πατρῷον οἶκον ἐπανερχέσθω μεταληψομένη τῶν
ἀπαρχῶν, ὧν καὶ ἡνίκα παρθένος. ἦν ἐκοινώνει:
τρόπον γάρ τινα καὶ νῦν ἐστι δυνάμει παρθένος ἡ
καὶ ἀνδρὸς καὶ παΐδων ἔρημος, οὐδεμίαν ἑτέραν
ἔχουσα καταφυγὴν ὅτι μὴ τὸν πατέρα. υἱῶν δὲ
ὄντων 7 θυγατέρων, ἀνάγκη τὴν μητέρα τοῖς τέκ-
vous συντετάχθαι" υἱοὶ γὰρ" καὶ θυγατέρες τῆς τοῦ
γεννήσαντος οἰκίας ὄντες εἰς ταύτην συνεφέλκονται
καὶ τὴν μητέρα .ὃ

XXVII. Τοῖς ¢ ἱερεῦσιν οὐκ ἀπένειμε χώρας ἀπο-

1 MSS. πρὸς τῶν OF τρόπον. 2 MSS. δὲ,
3 Here the mss. insert the heading Tépa ἱερέων.

α ἃ ὁ. if the sacred meats are pilfered and eaten on the sly,
they would be treated irreverently; but if they are eaten
openly and under supervision, this danger is avoided.

172

THE SPECIAL LAWS, 1. 127-131

the ordinary food and drink and additional dishes for
their masters, stand by the table and carry out the
remains. Whether we wish it or not, they will even
if they do not take them openly, pilfer them on the
sly. Thus they are compelled perforce to steal and
instead of a single indictment, if indeed it is an offence
to feed off the master’s viands, a second is provided,
namely, stealing, with the result that the enjoyment
of the consecrated meats appears to fall to thieves
instead of to those who live a blameless life, which is
the height of absurdity. There is a third point for 128
consideration. The dignity of the first-fruits will not
be brought into contempt because they are shared
by the servants. The fear of the master will prevent
this, for by keeping them from idle habits he is able
to check any light conduct on their part.”

XXVI. As a sequel to this he proceeds to lay down 129
a law full of humane feeling.’ If the daughter of a
priest, he says, is widowed after marrying one who
is not a priest, either by his death or divorce during
his lifetime, and left without children, she should
return to her father to regain the share in the first-
fruits which she enjoyed as a virgin. For she is still
in a sense virtually a virgin, destitute as she is of both
husband and children and with no refuge except her
father. Butifthere are sons or daughters, the mother 130
must take her place with her children.° For sons and
daughters belong to the house of the male parent and
carry with them into it the mother also.@

XXVII. The priests were not allotted a section of 131

> See Lev. xxii. 13.

¢ A reasonable deduction from the above. —

@ Here the mss. give the heading “‘ Privileges of the Priests.”
In Cohn a fresh numeration of chapters.

173

[233]
132

133

PHILO

A e ’ 5 ς @ A 9 A aA “-
τομὴν ὁ νόμος, ἵν᾽ ὡς ἕτεροι τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς
καρπούμενοι προσόδους τῶν ἀναγκαίων εὐπορῶσιν,
9 “-- ~ lA
ἀλλ᾽ ὑπερβολῇ χρησάμενος τιμῆς τὸν θεὸν ἔφη

A aA S 9 A A
κλῆρον αὐτῶν εἶναι, κατ᾽ ἀναφορὰν τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ
καθιερούμενα, δυεῖν ἕνεκα, τῆς τε ἀνωτάτω τιμῆς,

A 9
ἐπεὶ κοινωνοὶ τῶν κατ᾽ εὐχαριστίαν ἀπονεμομένων
A A 4
γίνονται θεῷ, καὶ τοῦ περὶ μόνα πραγματεύεσθαι

ne , , ' ,
δεῖν τὰ περὶ τὰς ἁγιστείας ὥσπερ τινὰς κλήρων
>] ᾽ὔ ray A 4 Ss A 9 Aw
ἐπιμελητάς. ἃ δὲ | προτίθησιν ἄθλα Kai ἀριστεῖα

΄ ’ὔ “- , ,
ταῦτ᾽ ἐστί. πρῶτον μὲν amovov Kal ἀταλαίπωρον

A e 4 ΄ι
τροφὴν ἑτοίμην: κελεύει γὰρ τοὺς σιτοπονοῦντας
9 ’ , 4
ἀπὸ παντὸς στέατός Te Kal φυράματος ἄρτον
9 A 9 9 ς ’ “- ᾽
ἀφαιρεῖν ἀπαρχὴν εἰς ἱερέων χρῆσιν, προνοούμενος

aw 9 ᾽ ΄- ’
ἅμα καὶ τῆς εἰς εὐσέβειαν ἀγούσης ὁδοῦ νομίμῳ
’ ~ 9 ’ 9 ’ A > ee |
διδασκαλίᾳ τῶν ἀφαιρούντων. ἐθιζόμενοι yap ἀεὶ
καὶ τῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς ἀπάρχεσθαι τὴν θεοῦ

4 9 Ψ a A 9 A 9
μνήμην ἄληστον ἕξουσιν, οὗ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν οὐκ
9 € ~ 4 9 3 9
ἔστιν εὑρεῖν. πολυανθρωποτάτου δ᾽ ἔθνους avay-

ὡς 5 \ ἢ 9 \ 9 , e oy \
καῖον εἶναι καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἀφθόνους, ὡς Kal TOV

9 , A e 4 / ’ A
ἀπορώτατον τῶν ἱερέων ἕνεκα περιουσίας τροφῶν

α The reference is to Deut. xviii. 1, 2, “Τῆς priests shall
have no part nor inheritance with Israel. The offerings
(καρπώματα) of the Lord shall be their inheritance, they shall
eat them, and they shall have no inheritance among their
brethren. The Lord Himself is their inheritance.”’ Philo
sees that in this text “‘the offerings of the Lord are their
inheritance ᾽ is equivalent to “‘the Lord is their inheritance,”
and explains the latter phrase as meaning (1) they share the

174

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 131-133

territory by the law so that like the others they might
reap the proceeds of the land and have abundance
of their requisites therefrom. Instead, when refer-
ring to the consecrated offerings, it paid them the
transcendent honour of saying that God was their
‘inheritance.* He is their inheritance for two reasons.
One is the supreme honour conferred by sharing with
God in the thank-offering rendered to Him. The
other is the obligation to concern themselves only
with the sacred rites, thus becoming in a sense
trustees of inheritances. The prizes and guerdons
which the law offers are as follows. ὃ First, a main-
tenance ready to hand and entailing no labour
or trouble. For he commands that from all
dough of wheat or other grain,° the bakers should
set apart a loaf as a first portion for the use
of the priests. In this he is also thinking of the
avenue to piety provided by the lesson which the
law of setting apart gives to those who obey it.
For through being accustomed to make this offering
out of their necessary food, they will have God in
indelible recollection and no greater blessing can be
gained than this. As the nation is very populous,
the first-fruits are necessarily also on a lavish scale,
so that even the poorest of the priests has so super-
abundant a maintenance that he seems exceedingly
offerings with the Lord; (2) as consecrating the offerings
they are trustees and managers of the “ inheritances.”’
ἐπιμεληταὶ τῶν KA. seems to be a technical term for the
commoner ἐπίτροποι Ξ- “ executors.”’ Cf. Diog. Laert. v. 55, 56.
In De Plant. 63 he explains the phrase “the Lord is their
inheritance,’’ which occurs also in Num. xviii. 20 and Deut.
x. 9, aS meaning simply the priesthood.
> See Num. xv. 18-20.

‘ © 4.e. στέαρ is wheaten flour made into dough, φύραμα
dough in general.

175

132

133

184

135

136

137

PHILO

εὐπορώτατον δοκεῖν εἶναι. δεύτερον δὲ
προστάττει καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἄλλης ἁπάσης κτήσεως
ἀπάρχεσθαι, καθ᾽ ἑκάστην μὲν ληνὸν οἶνον, Kal”
ἑκάστην δ᾽ ἅλωνα σῖτόν τε καὶ κριθήν, ὁμοίως δ᾽
ἐξ ἐλαιῶν ἔλαιον καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀκροδρύων͵
ἡμέρους καρπούς, ἵνα μὴ τἀναγκαῖα μόνον ἐ ἔχοντες
αὐχμηρότερον ἀποζῶσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πρὸς ἁβρο-
ίαιτον βίον “εὐποροῦντες ἱλαρώτερον ἐξ ἀφθόνων
τρυφῶσι μετὰ κόσμου τοῦ προσήκοντος.

τρίτον ἐστὶ γέρας τὰ πρωτότοκα ἀρρενικὰ πάντα

4 4 \

TOV χερσαίων ὅσα πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν Kal χρῆσιν
ἀνθρώπων: ταῦτα γὰρ κελεύει διαδίδοσθαι τοῖς
ἱερεῦσι, βοῶν μὲν καὶ προβάτων καὶ αἰγῶν αὐτὰ τὰ
ἔκγονα, μόσχους καὶ κριοὺς καὶ χιμάρους, ἐπειδὴ
καθαρὰ καὶ πρὸς ἐδωδὴν καὶ πρὸς θυσίας ἐστί τε
καὶ νενόμισται, λύτρα δὲ τῶν ἄλλων κατατιθέναι,
ἵππων καὶ ὄνων καὶ καμήλων καὶ τῶν παρα-
πλησίων, μὴ μειοῦντας τὴν ἀξίαν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ
ταῦτα παμπληθῆ" κτηνοτροφοῦσι γὰρ καὶ ζῳοτρο-
φοῦσιν ἐ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους αἰπόλια
καὶ βουκόλια καὶ ποίμνας καὶ μυρίας ἄλλας ἀγέλας
παντοδαπῶν ζῴων ἐκνέμοντες. ἤδη μέντοι
καὶ προσυπερβάλλων ὁ νόμος οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τῆς
κτήσεως καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἰδέαν ἀπάρχεσθαι προσ-
τάττει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ψυχῶν τε καὶ
σωμάτων" μέρη γὰρ διαιρετὰ γονέων παῖδές εἰσιν,
εἰ δὲ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἀδιαίρετα, συγγενικῷ
αἵματι καὶ λόγοις προγόνων, ἀοράτοις εἴδεσιν, εἰς

α There is some dispute as to the texts to which Philo
refers. See notes in Heinemann (Translation, pp. 49, 50);
Bildung, pp. 35, 36. The references given in Cohn are
Ex. xxii. 29, xxxiv. 26, Num. xviii. 13, Deut. xviii. 4, xxvi. 2 ff.

176

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 134-137

well-to-do. @Secondly, he ordains that 134
first-fruits should be paid of every other possession ;
wine from every winepress, wheat and barley from
every threshing-floor, similarly oil from olives, and
fruits from the other orchard-trees, so that the
priests may not have merely bare necessaries, just
keeping themselves alive in comparatively squalid
conditions, but enjoy abundance of the luxuries
of life and pass their days amid cheerful and
unstinted comfort in the style which befits their
position. A third perquisite is the first- 135
born males of all land animals suitable for the use and
service of men.® These he orders to be distributed
to the priests: in the case of kine and sheep and
goats the actual offspring, male calves and lambs and
kids, since they are ‘“‘ clean’ for the purposes both
of eating and sacrificing, and are recognized as such.
For the others, horses and asses and camels and the
like, compensation is to be paid without chaffering
about the value. All these are very numerous, for 136
the men of the nation are noted particularly as
graziers and stock-breeders, and keep flocks and herds
of goats and oxen and sheep and of every kind of animal
in vast numbers. And this is not all. We 137
find the laws carrying the principle to a further extent
by commanding that first-fruits should be paid not
only from possessions of every kind but also from
their own souls and bodies. For children are separ-
able parts of their parents, or rather to speak more
truly, inseparable parts, joined to them by kinship
of blood, by the thoughts and memories of ancestors,
invisible presences still alive among their descendants,

> See Ex. xxii. 30, Num. xviii. 15-20.
VOL. VII N 177

198

139
[284]

PHILO

9 ’ ὔ [ e A 9 ’ A
ἐκγόνους διήκουσι φίλτροις τε ἑνωτικῆς εὐνοίας Kal
“ aA 9 4 e 4 > 9 Φ
φύσεως δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἡρμοσμένοι. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως
καὶ τούτων τοὺς πρωτοτόκους ἄρρενας τρόπον
ἀπαρχῆς καθιεροῖ, χαριστήρια εὐτεκνίας καὶ €v-
ld 3 \ 9 ,ὔ ,\ & 4
yovias οὔσης τε Kal ἐλπιζομένης, καὶ ἅμα βουλό-
9 4 > ᾽ὔ > A A /
μενος οὐ μόνον ἀμέμπτους ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα
ἐπαινετοὺς εἶναι τοὺς γάμους. ἐξ ὧν 6 πρῶτος
βλαστήσας καρπὸς καθιεροῦται: ὅπερ χρὴ λογιζο-
μένους καὶ ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας σωφροσύνης καὶ
’
οἰκουρίας καὶ ὁμονοίας περιέχεσθαι καὶ συμπνέοντας
ὶλλ Ar ” λ ’ὔ A ” A λ ’
ἀλλήλοις ἔν τε λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ τὴν λεγομένην
κοινωνίαν ἀληθείᾳ παγίως, βεβαιοῦσθαι. τῆς δὲ
τῶν πρωτοτόκων | υἱῶν καθιερώσεως," ὑπὲρ τοῦ
μήτε γονεῖς τέκνων μήτε τέκνα γονέων διαζεύγνυ-
aA A > A > ’ e A
σθαι, τιμᾶται THY ἀπαρχὴν ἀργυρίῳ ῥητῷ, προσ-
’ ” 3 ’ A ’ A 4 9
τάξας ἴσον εἰσφέρειν καὶ πένητα καὶ πλούσιον, οὐ
\ ΡΣ “A 9 ’ 90 " A 9 ’
πρὸς ἀξίωμα τῶν εἰσφερόντων οὐδὲ πρὸς εὐεξίαν
A , “A ’ὔ 9 ’ > 9 [χἠ
καὶ κάλλος τῶν γεννηθέντων ἀπιδών, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον

i A A A ’ >
δυνατὸν εἰσενεγκεῖν καὶ τῷ λίαν ἀπόρῳ σταθμησά-

> A A e ’ ’ 3 v A
140 μενος. ἐπειδὴ yap ἡ παίδων γένεσις ἐν tow Kal

A 4 A A > 4 Ψ
τοῖς λαμπροτάτοις καὶ τοῖς ἀφανεστάτοις εἴωθε
’ ” 9 ’ A A 9 A
συμβαίνειν, ἴσην ἐδικαίωσε Kal τὴν εἰσφορὰν
“- Ul , Ul A
νομοθετῆσαι στοχασάμενος, ws ἔφην, μάλιστα τοῦ
1 MSS. παγίω (Ξε παγίῳ).
2 Cohn considers this genitive as impossible, and following
καθιέρωσιν in F and the apparent insertion of ἀλλὰ before

τιμᾶται in the Armenian, suggests τὴν. .. καθιέρωσιν (οὐ
δέχεται. . . (ἀλλὰ τιμᾶται. See Hermes, 1908, p. 189. I

178

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 137-140

by the love-ties of the affection which unites them,
by the indissoluble bonds of nature.* Yet even
parents have their first-born male children conse-
crated as a first-fruit, a thank-offering for the bless-
ings of parenthood realized in the present and the
hopes of fruitful increase in the future. At the same
time he shews his wish that the marriages, the first
produce 6f which is a fruit sacred to His service,
should be not only blameless but worthy of the
highest praise. And reflection on this should lead
both husbands and wives to cherish temperance and
domesticity and unanimity, and by mutual sympathy
shewn in word and deed to make the name of partner-
ship a reality securely founded on truth. ὃ But to
prevent the parents being separated from the chil-
dren and the children from their parents, he assessed
the first-fruit arising from the consecration of the
first-born sons at a fixed sum of money, and ordered
rich and poor to make the same contribution. He did
not take into consideration either the dignity of the
contributors or the good condition and beauty of the
offspring, but fixed the payment at an amount which
was within the power of even the very poor. For
since the birth of children is an event equally common
with the grandest and the meanest, he considered it
just to enact that the contribution should be equal
also, aiming, as I have said, as nearly as possible at a

@ See Ex. xiii. 2, xxii. 29.
> See Num. xviii. 15, 16, where “the fixed sum of money ”
is given as five shekels.

see no great difficulty in taking καθιερώσεως either as a
genitive of respect or as depending on ἀπαρχήν.

179

138

139

140

PHILO

141 πᾶσι δυνατοῦ. | XXVIII. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα
καὶ ἄλλον πόρον οὐ βραχὺν ἐπινέμει τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν,
ἕκαστον τῶν προσόδων ἀπάρχεσθαι κελεύσας, ἀπό
τε σίτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου καὶ ἔτι θρεμμάτων
ἐπιγονῆς κατά τε ποίμνας καὶ βουκόλια καὶ αἰπόλια
καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀγέλας. ὅση δὲ καὶ τούτων ἐστὶν
ἀφθονία, τεκμήραιτ᾽ ἄν τις ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸ ἔθνος

142 πολυανθρωπίας. ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι
βασιλέων σεμνότητα καὶ τιμὴν “περιάπτει τοῖς
ἱερεῦσιν 6 νόμος: ὡς γοῦν ἡγεμόσι φόρους ἀπὸ
παντὸς μέρους κτήσεως δίδοσθαι κελεύει, καὶ
δίδονται τὸν ἐναντίον τρόπον ἢ ὃν at πόλεις τοῖς

148 δυνάσταις εἰσφέρουσιν: αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ
μόλις, ἐπιστένουσαι, τοὺς ἐκλογεῖς τῶν χρημάτων
ὡς κοινοὺς λυμεῶνας ὑποβλεπόμεναι καὶ προφάσεις
ἄλλοτε ἀλλοίας σκηπτόμεναι καὶ τῶν προθεσμιῶν
ἀλογοῦσαι τὰ ὁρισθέντα τέλη καὶ δασμοὺς κατα-

144 τιθέασιν" οἱ δ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους [τὰ ἱερατικὰ)]) γεγη-
θότες, χαίροντες, τοὺς αἰτοῦντας φθάνοντες, τὰς
προθεσμίας ἐπιτέμνοντες, λαμβάνειν ἀλλ᾽ οὐ δι-
δόναι νομίζοντες, μετ᾽ εὐφημίας καὶ εὐχαριστίας
καθ᾽ ἕκάστην τῶν ἐτησίων ὡρῶν ποιοῦνται τὰς
εἰσφοράς, ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκες, αὐτοκελεύστῳ
προθυμίᾳ καὶ ἑτοιμότητι καὶ σπουδῇ παντὸς λόγου
κρείττονι.

146 XXIX. Kai ταῦτα μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑκάστου κτήσεως
ἐπινέμεται: ἄλλαι δέ εἰσιν ἐξαίρετοι πρόσοδοι

« Cohn gives Num. xviii. 12 as the reference for this tax
which appears to differ from those of §§ 134 and 135 in being
paid not as a first-fruit on each form of produce in its first
stage or on he first-born of the animals, but on the final

180

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 141-145

sum within the ἜΕῚ of all, XXVIII. 141

« After that he assigns another considerable source of
wealth to the priests when he commands every-
one to give first-fruits of his revenues from corn and
wine and oil, and again of the increase of their live-
stock levied on their flocks and herds, of sheep and
oxen and goats and other animals, and how great
an abundance the nation possesses of these may be
judged from the magnitude of the population. From
all this it is clear that the law invests the priests with
the dignity and honours of royalty. Thus he com-
mands that tribute should be given from every part
of a man’s property as to a ruler, and the way in which
the tribute is paid is a complete contrast to the spirit
in which the cities make their payments to their
potentates. The cities pay under compulsion and
reluctantly and groan under the burden. They
look askance at the tax-collectors as general agents
of destruction. They trump up different excuses to
suit the occasion, and when they discharge the ap-
pointed dues and assessments they do so without
regard to the time limits allowed. But our people
pay gladly and cheerfully. They anticipate the

142

143

144

demand, abridge the time limits and think that they .

are not giving but receiving. And so at each of the
yearly seasons they make their contributions with
benediction and thankfulness, men and women alike,
and with a zeal and readiness which needs no prompt-
ing and an ardour which no words can describe.
XXIX. These are the contributions levied on the
personal possessions of every individual, but the
priests have also other special incomings drawn very

harvest or property as a whole. For further discussion see
Heinemann ad loc. |
181

145

146

[235]
147

148

PHILO

e “A e > A “-
πρεπωδέσταται ἱερεῦσιν αἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναγομένων

ὺ A e ’ A
θυσιῶν. παντὸς yap ἱερείου προστέτακται δύο τοῖς

ἱερεῦσιν ἀπὸ δυεῖν δίδοσθαι μελῶν, βραχίονα μὲν
ἀπὸ χειρὸς δεξιᾶς, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ στήθους ὅσον πῖον,
τὸ μὲν ἰσχύος καὶ ἀνδρείας καὶ πάσης νομίμου
πράξεως ἔν τε τῷ διδόναι καὶ λαμβάνειν καὶ ‘év-
εργεῖν σύμβολον, τὸ δὲ τῆς περὶ τὸν θυμὸν ἵλεω
πραότητος. ἐνοικεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν λόγος ἔχει τοῖς
στήθεσιν, ἐπειδὴ χωρίον οἰκειότατον ἡ φύσις ἀπ-
ένειμε τὰ στέρνα θυμῷ πρὸς ἐνδιαίτησιν, ᾧ ᾧ καθάπερ
στρατιώτῃ περιέβαλεν εἰς τὸ δυσάλωτον ἕρκος
ὀχυρώτατον, τὸν ἐπικαλούμενον θώρακα, ὃν ἐκ
πολλῶν καὶ συνεχῶν καὶ κραταιοτάτων ὀστέων
ἀπειργάσατο εἰ σφίγξας αὐτὸν εὖ μάλα νεύροις
ἀρραγέσιν. ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἔξω τοῦ βωμοῦ θυομένων
ἕνεκα κρεωφαγίας τρία προστέτακται τῷ ἱερεῖ
δίδοσθαι, βραχίονα καὶ σιαγόνας καὶ τὸ ἔνυστρον
καλούμενον, τὸν μὲν͵ ραχίονα διὰ τὴν “ὀλίγῳ πρό-
τερον εἰρημένην αἰτίαν, τὰς δὲ σιαγόνας τοῦ τε
κυριωτάτου τῶν μελῶν, κεφαλῆς, καὶ λόγου τοῦ
κατὰ προφορὰν ἁ ἀπαρχήν, οὗ τὸ νᾶμα ῥεῖν ἔξω δίχα
τῆς τούτων κινήσεως οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο" σειομένων γὰρ
--ἀφ᾽ οὗ καὶ προσωνομάσθησαν ἐτύμως---ὅταν
πληχθῶσιν ὑπὸ γλώττης, ἅπασα ἡ τῆς φωνῆς
ὀργανοποιΐα συνηχεῖ. τὸ δὲ ἔνυστρον ἔκφυσις
κοιλίας ἐστί: κοιλίαν δὲ φάτνην ἀλόγου θρέμματος,

@ Lev. vii. 31-34 (Lxx 21-24). There, however, the fat on
the breast is to be burnt, and not, as here implied, taken as a
perquisite by the priest. (This discrepancy is not noticed by
Cohn or Heinemann, and there may perhaps be some explana-
tion of it.)

δ Or “needed to control” (the θυμός). For a similar
thought as to the breast being the seat of θυμός ef. Leg. All.

182

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 145-148

appropriately from the sacrifices offered. “It is
ordained that with every victim two gifts should be
presented to the priest from two of its parts, the arm
or shoulder from the right side and all the fat from
the breast, the former as a symbol of strength and
manliness and of all lawful operations in giving and
receiving and general activity, the latter of gentle
mildness applied to the spirited element.’ For it is
held that this element resides in the breast, since
nature has appointed the chest as the most suitable
place for its mansion and girded it like a soldier armed
against attack with the stoutest of fenceworks called
the thorax, or breastplate, which she has formed of a
number of bones one upon another, strong and hard,
and bound them tight with unbreakable sinews. But
of animals sacrificed away from the altars as meat for
private consumption, three portions are appointed
to be given to the priests, the shoulder and the jaws
and the maw, as it is called.° The shoulder for the
reason mentioned a little above, the jaws both as
belonging to that master-limb, the head, and as a
first-fruit of the uttered word which needs their
movement to make possible the outflow of its stream.

The jaws are shaken—and thence the derivation of

their name 4—when the tongue strikes upon them and
then the whole vocal mechanism joins with them in
producing sound. The maw is an excrescence of the
belly, and it is the fate of the belly to be the manger

iii. 115. Since gentleness is brought into play by being
needed to control θυμός, it also is placed in the breast. In
much the same way, as reason is needed to curb high spirit,
the λογεῖον or reason-seat is placed on Aaron’s breast (2bid.
119). See further App. pp. 620-621.

¢ See Deut. xviii. 3.

4 2,9. ovaywvis derived from ceiw.

183

146

147

148

PHILO

ἐπιθυμίας, εἶναι συμβέβηκεν, ἥτις ὑπ᾽ οἰνοφλυγίας
καὶ ὀψοφαγίας ἀρδομένη τροφαῖς ἐπαλλήλοις σιτίων
ὁμοῦ καὶ ποτῶν ἀεὶ κατακλύζεται καὶ συὸς τρόπον
ἐν βορβόρῳ διαιτωμένη χαίρει: παρὸ καὶ τόπος
ἀπενεμήθη σφόδρα οἰκειότατος 0 τῶν περιττω-
μάτων ἀκολάστῳ καὶ ἀπρεπεστάτῳ θρέμματι.

> 4 \ 9 4 > 4 Δ > 4 \
149 ἀντίπαλον δὲ ἐπιθυμίας ἐγκράτεια, ἣν ἀσκητέον καὶ

διαπονητέον καὶ σπουδαστέον μηχανῇ πάσῃ περι-
A 2Q 7
ποιεῖσθαι ὡς μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν. καὶ τελειότατον ἰδίᾳ

160 τε καὶ κοινῇ συμφέρον. ἐπιθυμία μὲν οὖν βέβηλος

16]

καὶ ἀκάθαρτος καὶ ἀνίερος οὖσα πέρα τῶν ἀρετῆς
ὅρων ἐλήλαται καὶ πεφυγάδευται δεόντως" ἐγ-
κράτεια δέ, καθαρὰ καὶ ἀκηλίδωτος ἀρετή, πάντων
ὅσα πρὸς βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν ἀλογοῦσα καὶ ἐπάνω
τῶν γαστρὸς ἡδονῶν αὐχοῦσα ἵστασθαι, βωμῶν
ἱερῶν ψαυέτω Kal’ τὴν πρόσφυσιν ἐπιφερομένη τῆς
κοιλίας, ὑπόμνημα τοῦ καταφρονητικῶς ἔχειν
ἀπληστίας καὶ λαιμαργίας καὶ πάντων ὅσα τὰ εἰς
τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἀναφλέγει. XXX. ἐφ᾽ ἅπασι μέντοι
καὶ τὰς τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων---ἀμύθητα δὲ ταῦτ᾽
ἐστί--δορὰς προστάττει τοὺς ὑπηρετοῦντας ταῖς
θυσίαις ἱερεῖς λαμβάνειν, οὐ βραχεῖαν ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς
μάλιστα πολυχρήματον δωρεάν. ἐξ ὦ ὧν δῆλόν € ἐστιν,
ὅτι κλῆρον ἕνα μὴ παρασχὼν τῇ ἱερωμένῃ φυλῇ
κατὰ ταὐτὰ ταῖς ἄλλαις τοῦ πασῶν ἔδωκε σεμνό-
τερον πόρον" καὶ ἁγιώτερον, κατὰ πρόφασιν ἀπ-
αρχῶν τῶν ἐξ ἅπαντος θυσίας εἴδους.

1 Perhaps omit καὶ. 2 Mss. τρόπον (or τόπον).

« The phrase is taken from Plato, Timaeus 70 Ε ‘‘ They
(2.6. God’s agents) constructed the part between the midriff
and the navel as a manger (φάτνη), for the sustenance of the

184

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 148-152

of that irrational animal, desire,* which drenched by
wine-bibbing and gluttony, is perpetually flooded
with relays of food and drink administered to it, and
like a sow rejoices to make its home in the mire. And
therefore the place of dregs and leavings has been
assigned as by far the fittest for a licentious and most
unseemly animal. But the opposite of desire is con-
tinence, the acquisition of which is a task to be
practised and pressed forward by every possible
means as the greatest and most perfect of blessings
promoting personal and public welfare alike. So
then desire, profane, impure and unholy, has been
expelled outside the confines of virtue and well
deserved is its banishment. But let continence,
that pure and stainless virtue which disregards all
concerns of food and drink and claims to stand superior
to the pleasures of the stomach, touch the holy altars
and bring with it the appendage of the belly as a
reminder that it holds in contempt gluttony and
greediness and all that inflames the tendencies to
lust. XXX. ® In addition to all the rest it ordains that
the priests who minister at the holy sacrifices should
receive the hides of the whole-burnt-offerings, the
number of which is incalculable, and this is no small
gift, but represents a very large sum of money.
From these things it is clear that the law did not
provide the consecrated tribe with a single portion,
like the others, but gave it, under the guise of first-
fruits from every kind of sacrifice, a source of revenue
of greater dignity and sanctity than that of them all
put together. But that none of the

body, and then they chained it (z.e. the part of the soul which
lusts after meat and drink) like a Lome beast”? (κατέδησαν ὡς
θρέμμα ἄγριον).

> See Lev. vii. 8 (Lxx vi. 38).

185

149

150

151

152

152

[236]

153

PHILO

ὑπὲρ δὲ Tod μηδένα τῶν διδόντων ὀνειδίζειν Tots
λαμβάνουσι, κελεύει τὰς ἀπαρχὰς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν
κομίζεσθαι πρότερον, εἶτ᾽ | ἐνθένδε τοὺς ἱερεῖς
λαμβάνειν" ἥρμοττε γὰρ θεῷ μὲν τοὺς εὐεργετου-
μένους ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον χαριστηρίους
ἀνάγειν ἀπαρχάς, τὸν δὲ ἅτε μηδενὸς ἐπιδεᾶ τοῖς
ἀμφὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ὑπηρέταις καὶ λειτουργοῖς χαρίζεσθαι
μετὰ σεμνότητος καὶ τιμῆς τῆς ἁπάσης" τὸ γὰρ μὴ
παρ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ πάντων εὐεργέτου
δοκεῖν λαμβάνειν ἀδυσώπητον ἐ ἔχει δωρεάν.
ΧΧΧΙ. Τοσούτων οὖν προκειμένων. ἄθλων, ἐάν
τινες ἀπορῶσι τῶν ἱερέων κοσμίως καὶ ἀνυπαιτίως
ζῶντες, τῆς ἡμετέρας παρανομίας ἐφεστᾶσι κατ-
ήγοροι, κἂν ἡσυχάζωσιν' εἰ γὰρ ἐπειθαρχοῦμεν τοῖς
κελευσθεῖσι καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἐποιούμεθα ἢ προσ-
τέτακται, οὐκ ἂν μόνον ἐκεῖνοι τῶν ἀναγκαίων
9 4 > A \ ~ 3 Ὁ A ¢ ,
εὐπόρουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα πρὸς ἁβροδιαί-

154 Tous χορηγίας ἀνεπίμπλαντο. κἂν ἄρα ποτὲ αὖθις

155

ἡ φυλὴ τῶν ἱερέων ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον
ἀφθόνοις ἐξετάζηται, μέγα δεῖγμα γενήσεται τοῦτο
κοινῆς ὁσιότητος καὶ τῆς τῶν νομίμων ἐπ᾽ ἀκριβὲς
εἰς ἅπαν φυλακῆς. ἀλλ᾽ ἥ τινων ὀλιγωρία---ἁπαντας
γὰρ οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς αἰτιᾶσθαι---γέγονεν αἰτία πενίας
τοῖς ἱερωμένοις, εἰ δὲ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, καὶ αὐτοῖς
ἐκείνοις. τὸ γὰρ παρανομεῖν ἐπιζήμιον τοῖς παρα-
νομοῦσι, κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον δελεάζῃ χρόνον’ τὸ δὲ
ἕπεσθαι τοῖς τῆς φύσεως νόμοις ὠφελιμώτατον,
κἂν παραυτίκα αὐστηρὸν ἢ καὶ μηδὲν προσηνὲς ἐμ-

φαίνῃ.

4 Deduced from the language of Num. xviii. 8-19, par-
ticularly v. 19, where the offerings described in detail are
said to be the gift of God to the priests.

186

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 152-155

donors should taunt the recipients, it ordered the first-
fruits to be first brought into the temple and then
taken thence by the priests.* It was the proper
course that the first-fruits should be brought as a
thank-offering to God by those whose life in all its
aspects is blessed by His beneficence, and then by
Him, since He needs nothing at all, freely bestowed
with all dignity and honour on those who serve and
minister in the temple. For if the gift is felt to come
not from men but from the Benefactor of all, its
acceptance carries with it no sense of shame.

XXXI. Since, then, the prospective rewards are so
great, if any of the priests who live a decent and
blameless life are in need, they confront us as accusers
of our disobedience to the law, even though they
bring no charge. For if we obeyed the command-
ment and gave the first-fruits as it is ordained, they
would have not only abundance of mere necessaries
but a full measure of all else that the luxurious can
require. And on the other hand if the priestly tribe
shall in the course of the future be found to possess
all the means of life in abundance, it will be strong
evidence that the practice of religion is general and
the law carefully observed in all respects. But the
neglectfulness of some ’—for it would not be safe
to accuse all—has brought about the impoverishment
of the consecrated class and indeed, it is true to say,
of the defaulters themselves. Disobedience to the
law, for all its short-lived seductiveness, recoils upon
the disobedient. But in compliance with the laws
of nature, though for the moment it is stern and
wears a grim aspect, there is the greatest of rewards.

Ὁ This rather modifies the glowing statement of § 144.
187

153

154

155

166

PHILO

XXXII. Τοσαύτας προσόδων ἀφορμὰς yapiod-
μενος τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν οὐδὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τάξει
κατωλιγώρησεν" εἰσὶ δὲ νεωκόροι. τούτων Ol μὲν
ἐπὶ θύραις ἵδρυνται παρ᾽ αὐταῖς ταῖς εἰσόδοις
πυλωροί, οἱ δ᾽ εἴσω κατὰ τὸ πρόναον ὑπὲρ τοῦ μή
τινα ὧν οὐ θέμις ἑκόντα ἢ καὶ ἄκοντα ἐπιβῆναι, ot
δ᾽ ἐν κύκλῳ περινοστοῦσιν ἐν μέρει διακληρωσά-
μενοι νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, ἡμεροφύλακες καὶ νυκτο-
φύλακες, ἕτεροι δὲ τὰς στοὰς καὶ τὰ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ
κοροῦντες τὸν φορυτὸν ἐκκομίζουσιν ἐπιμελούμενοι
καθαριότητος" οἷς ἅπασι μισθὸς ὡρίσθησαν at

157 δεκάται, κλῆρος γὰρ νεωκόρων οὗτος. οὐ πρότερον
3 4

158

159 >
(237]

γοῦν εἴασεν ὁ νόμος αὐταῖς χρῆσθαι τοὺς λαβόντας
ἢ πάλιν ἄλλας δεκάτας ὡς ἀπὸ κτημάτων ἰδίων
ἀπάρξασθαι καὶ δοῦναι τοῖς τῆς ἀμείνονος τάξεως
ἱερεῦσι: τηνικαῦτα γὰρ ἐφῆκεν ἀπολαύειν, πρότερον
δ᾽ οὐκ ἐᾷ. ἀπένειμε δὲ καὶ πόλεις αὐτοῖς
ὀκτὼ πρὸς ταῖς τεσσαράκοντα καὶ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην
προάστεια εἰς δισχιλίους πήχεις ἐν κύκλῳ πρὸς
νομὰς θρεμμάτων καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὧν δεῖ πόλεσιν
ἀναγκαίας ὑπηρεσίας. ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἀπεκληρώ-
θησαν ἕξ, αἱ μὲν ἐκτὸς αἱ δὲ ἐντὸς ᾿Ιορδάνου τοῦ
ποταμοῦ, τρεῖς ἑκατέρωθεν, εἰς καταφυγὴν τοῖς
ἀκούσιον φόνον δράσασιν. ἐπειδὴ yap | τὸν ὁπω-
σοῦν “γενόμενον ἀνθρώπῳ τελευτῆς παραίτιον οὐκ
ἦν εὐαγὲς εἴσω περιρραντηρίων παρέρχεσθαι χρώ-
μενον πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν καταφυγῇ τῷ ἱερῷ, τὰς
εἰρημένας ἀνῆκε πόλεις, ἱερὰ δεύτερα, πολλὴν

@ See Num. xviii. 21. δ See Num. xviii. 26-28.

¢ See Num. xviii. 32, “ye shall not bear sin by reason of
it (4.e. eating the fruits), because ye shall have offered an
offering of first-fruits from it.’ (Lxx.)

188

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 156-159

XXXII. After bestowing these great sources of 156
revenue on the priests, he did not ignore those of the
second rank either, namely the temple attendants.
Some of these are stationed at the doors as gate-
keepers at the very entrances, some within in front
of the sanctuary to prevent any unlawful person from
setting foot thereon, either intentionally or uninten-
tionally. Some patrol around it turn by turn in relays
by appointment night and day, keeping watch and
guard at both seasons. Others sweep the porticoes
and the open court, convey away the refuse and
ensure cleanliness. “% All these have the tithes ap-
pointed as their wages, this being the portion settled
on them as temple attendants. ὃ It should be noted 157
that the law does not allow them to avail themselves
of these tithes until they have rendered other tithes
from them treated as their own property as first-
fruits to the priests of the superior class. ° Only when
this condition has been fulfilled are they allowed to
enjoy their income. 4He also assigned 158
them forty-eight cities with a frontage of land each
to the depth of 2000 cubits to graze their cattle and
carry on other kinds of business necessary for the
service of the cities. @ Of these there were six allotted,
three on the near side and three on the far side of the
river Jordan, as a refuge for the perpetrators of in-
voluntary homicide. For since it would be sacrilege 159
for a person responsible for the death of a man, how-
ever it was caused, to come within the sacred pre-
cincts, and use the temple as a refuge from danger, he
made over to them the aforesaid cities as secondary

4 See Num. xxxv. 2-8.

ὁ For the sequel to the end of 8 161 see Num. xxxv.
9-28.

189

PHILO

> , 3 ~
ἀσυλίαν ἐχούσας ἕνεκα τῆς περὶ τοὺς οἰκήτορας
’ A ~ Δ A e , ,
προνομίας TE καὶ τιμῆς, OL τοὺς ἱκέτας διασῴζειν
” λλ 9 , , 9 , ὃ , 9
ἔμελλον, εἰ βιάζοιτό τις ἐχυρωτέρα δύναμις, οὐ
A A 9 ’ὔ 3 9 9 > ,
παρασκευαῖς ταῖς εἰς πόλεμον οὔσαις, ἀλλ᾽ ἀξιώ-
A “A A
pact καὶ προνομίαις, ἅπερ ἐκ τῶν νόμων διὰ τὴν
’ low e , S e A A 9 A
160 σεμνότητα τῆς ἱερωσύνης εἶχον. ὁ δὲ φυγὰς ἐντὸς
με “-
ὅρων τῆς πόλεως, εἰς ἣν πεφυγάδευται, κατα-
λ ’ θ ὃ A Α 9 “ὃ λ “ a ,
κεκλείσθω διὰ τοὺς ἐφέδρους κολαστάς, οἱ γένει
Va “A “A “- “-
προσήκοντες τῷ τεθνεῶτι πόθῳ τοῦ συγγενοῦς, κἂν
μὴ ὑφ᾽ ἑκόντος ἀναιρεθῇ, κατὰ τοῦ κτείναντος
φονῶσι, νικῶντος τοῦ οἰκείου πάθους τὸν ἀκριβῆ
“A ’ ’ ” A ee A > 9 9 ,
τῶν δικαίων λογισμόν. ἔξω δὲ προϊὼν ἐπ᾽ ὀλέθρῳ
> , 4 ,
ἀνενδοιάστῳ προελευσόμενος ἴστω: λήσεται γὰρ
9. » “- > 49 [ὦ ey? #4 > ἢ ’ Α
οὐδένα τῶν ἀφ᾽ αἵματος, ὑφ᾽ ὧν αὐτίκα λίνοις καὶ
UU A > 9 ’ > »”

161 πάγαις σαγηνευθεὶς οἰχήσεται. προθεσμία δ᾽ ἔστω
on ~ “A e a V4
τῆς φυγῆς ὁ Bios τοῦ μεγάλου ἱερέως, οὗ τελευτή-

σαντος ἀμνηστίας ἀξιωθεὶς κατίτω.
“A ’ ’ὔ
Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια νομοθετήσας
A A e , Cera 3 Uf A , “A
περὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἑξῆς ἀναδιδάσκει περὶ ζῴων, ἃ
162 πρὸς θυσίας ἐστὶν ἐπιτήδεια. XXXIII. ὁ τῶν εἰς
e A
Tas ἱερουργίας ζῴων τὰ μέν ἐστι χερσαῖα, τὰ
“Ὁ “- ~ V4
δὲ ἀεροπόρα. τὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν πτηνῶν ἔθνη
’ Φ A , 4 9 e , [χὰ
μυρία ὅσα παρελθὼν δύο μόνα ἐξ ἁπάντων εἵλετο,
περιστερὰν καὶ τρυγόνα, διότι περιστερὰ μὲν τῶν
’ ~ A > ~ e ’
[288] φύσει | τιθασῶν καὶ ἀγελαστικῶν ἡμερώτατον,

1 Here the mss. insert a new heading Περὶ ζῴων τῶν εἰς
ἱερουργίας καὶ τίνα τῶν θυσιῶν τὰ εἴδη.

¢ A new heading in Μ88., “ΟΥ̓ the sacrificial animals and

190

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 159-162

temples, well secured from violation through the
privileged and honourable position of the inhabitants,
who, if any stronger power should attempt to use
force against the suppliants, would keep them safe,
not with warlike preparations, but through the
dignities and privileges conferred on them by the
laws in virtue of the reverence attached to the priestly
office. But the fugitive must remain shut up within 160
the confines of the city to which he has come as a
refuge because of the avengers waiting at the door,
whose relationship to the dead makes them seek the
blood of the slayer in their bitterness at the loss of
their kinsman, even though the fatal act was in-
voluntary. For strong family feeling overpowers
the sense of justice which strict reason would give.
But if he advances outside he must understand that
his movements will entail certain destruction, for they
will not be unobserved by any member of the family,
and enmeshed in their nets and snares he will be a
lost man. The time limit of his banishment is to 16]
coincide with the life of the high priest, at whose
death he may return with immunity assured as his
due. ᾿

After making these and other similar enactments
he next proceeds to give instructions as to the
animals suitable for sacrifice. XXXIII. *Of the 162
animals used for this purpose some are confined to the
dry land and others travel in the air. The winged
creatures are divided into numberless tribes, all of
which he ignored except two, the pigeon and the
turtle-dove,’ the pigeon because it is the gentlest of
those whose nature is tame and gregarious, the dove

the different kinds of sacrifice.’” Cohn begins a fresh numera-
tion of chapters. > See Lev. i. 14.

191

168

164

165

166

PHILO

τρυγὼν δὲ τῶν φύσει μονωτικῶν τιθασώτατον.
τὰς δὲ τῶν χερσαίων ἀμυθήτους ἀγέλας, ὧν οὐδ᾽
ἀριθμὸν εὑρεῖν εὔπορον, ὑπερβὰς τρεῖς ἀριστίνδην
ἐπέκρινε, βοῶν καὶ προβάτων καὶ αἰγῶν: ἡμερώ-
ταται γὰρ αὗται καὶ χειροηθέσταται" βουκόλια
γοῦν μεγάλα καὶ ποίμνια καὶ αἰπόλια πρὸς ἑνὸς
ἄγεται τοῦ τυχόντος, οὐκ ἀνδρὸς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
κομιδῇ νηπίου παιδός, εἴς τε νομὴν ἐξιόντα καὶ
ὁπότε δέοι πάλιν εἰς σηκοὺς ὑποστρέφοντα ἐν
κόσμῳ. τῆς δ᾽ ἡμερότητος πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα
σημεῖα, σαφέστατα δὲ ταυτί" τό τε πάντα εἶναι
χλοηφάγα καὶ “μηδὲν αὐτῶν σαρκοβόρον καὶ τὸ
μήτε γαμψοὺς ἔχειν ὄνυχας μήτε τὴν ἔκφυσιν τῶν
ὀδόντων παντελῆ" τὸ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω φάτνιον οὐκ
ὀδοντοφυεῖ, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσοι τομίαι τῶν ὀδόντων κατ᾽
αὐτὸ ἐπιλελοίπασι. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ βιωφελέ-
στατα τῶν ζῴων ἐστί: κριοὶ μὲν εἰς ἐσθῆτας, τὴν
ἀναγκαιοτάτην σκέπην. σωμάτων, βόες δὲ εἰς τὸ
ἀρόσαι γῆν καὶ προετοιμάσασθαι πρὸς σπόρον καὶ
τὸν γενόμενον ἀλοῆσαι καρπὸν εἰς μετουσίαν καὶ
ἀπόλαυσιν τροφῆς, αἰγῶν δὲ αἱ τρίχες καὶ δοραὶ
συνυφαινόμεναί τε καὶ συρραπτόμεναι φορηταὶ γε-
γόνασιν ὁδοιπόροις οἰκίαι καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἐν
στρατείαις, οὗς ἔξω πόλεως ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τὰ πολλὰ
διατρίβειν ἀναγκάζουσιν αἱ χρεῖαι. XXXIV. πάντα
δ᾽ ὁλόκληρα, περὶ μηδὲν μέρος κηραίνοντα τοῦ
σώματος, ὅλα δι᾽ ὅλων ἀσινῆ, μώμων ἀμέτοχα:
τοσαύτη γοῦν ἐστι πρόνοια, οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἀνάγουσι

α Oxen, Lev. i. 8 f.; sheep and goats, i. 10 f.
> See Lev. xxii. 19-24. .
¢ No scriptural authority is quoted for this. As Cohn

192

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 162-166

because it is the tamest of those which are naturally
fond of solitude. The land animals collect in vast 163
multitudes and the number of their varieties is almost
incalculable. All these .he passed over after select-
ing three as of superior merit, namely, oxen, sheep
and goats. For these are the gentlest and the most
docile. We see great herds and flocks of each kind
led by a single person, it matters not who. He may
even be not a grown man, but the merest child, and
under his guidance they go out to the pasture and
when required return back in order to their pens.
This tameness is shewn by many other indications, 164
but most clearly by the following facts. ΑἹ] of them
are eaters of grass, none eat flesh ; none of them have
crooked talons nor a full supplement of teeth, for
the upper gum does not lend itself to the growth of
teeth, but all the incisors are missing there. Further- 165
more, in the whole animal kingdom they are the most
serviceable for human life. The rams_ produce
raiment, the indispensable shelter fox the body, the
ox ploughs the soil and prepares it for the seed, and
when the crop is produced threshes it, thus making
it into food which can be shared and enjoyed, while
the skin and hair of the goat, when woven or sewn
together, supply portable houses for travellers and
particularly for campaigners who are compelled by
the exigencies of their life to spend most of their
time outside the city and in the open air. XXXIV. 166
Ὁ All the animals selected must be perfect, with no
affliction troubling any part of their body, scathless
throughout and free from fault or flaw. ¢ In fact, so
great is the forethought exercised not only by those

suggests, Philo may be relying on personal observation (or
hearsay ἢ).

VOL. VII oO 193

PHILO

A ’ 3 A \ aA e ’ ν e
τὰς θυσίας ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις, ὥστε ot
δοκιμώτατοι τῶν ἱερέων ἀριστίνδην ἐπικριθέντες εἰς
τὴν τῶν μώμων ἐπίσκεψιν ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἄχρι ποδῶν
ἄκρων ἐρευνῶσιν ὅσα τε ἐμῴανῆ καὶ ὅσα ὑπὸ γαστρὶ
καὶ μηροῖς ἀποκέκρυπται, μή που τις βραχεῖα λώβη

167 διαλέληθε. τὸ δ᾽ ἀκριβὲς καὶ περιττὸν τῆς ἐξετά-
σεως οὐχ ἕνεκα τῶν καταθυομένων ἀλλὰ τοῦ περὶ
τοὺς καταθύοντας ἀνυπαιτίου γίνεται" βούλεται γὰρ

9 A 9 ’ A 4 e 4
αὐτοὺς ἀναδιδάξαι διὰ συμβόλων, ὅπότε προσ-
ἔρχοιντο βωμοῖς ἢ εὐξόμενοι ἢ εὐχαριστήσοντες,

av ’
μηδὲν ἀρρώστημα ἣ νόσημα 7 πάθος ἐπιφέρεσθαι
aA A los > @ > 7 > ,
τῇ ψυχῇ, πειρᾶσθαι δ᾽ ὅλην δι᾿ ὅλων ἀκηλίδωτον
’ A “-
ἁγιάζειν, ὡς ἰδόντα μὴ ἀποστραφῆναι θεόν.
“- A e Γ
168 XXXV. ’Ezei δὲ τῶν θυσιῶν ai μέν εἰσιν ὑπὲρ
[2 a + 9 A A 9 A 9 aA e A
ἅπαντος τοῦ ἔθνους, εἰ δὲ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ὑπὲρ
Ψ 9 a ’ e > « A e 4 ~
[239] ἅπαντος ἀνθρώπων γένους, αἱ δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου | TOV
A 4 4 4 “-
ἱερουργεῖν ἀξιούντων, λεκτέον πρότερον περὶ τῶν
~ A 4 e 4
κοινῶν. θαυμαστὴ τούτων ἡ τάξις ἐστίν" ai μὲν
> e ’ J A
yap ἀνάγονται Kal” ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, at δὲ ταῖς
e A ’ λ ¢
ἑβδόμαις, οἱ δὲ νουμηνίαις καὶ ἱερομηνίαις, αἱ δὲ
e A \ aA “A
169 νηστείαις, αἱ δὲ τρισὶ καιροῖς ἑορτῶν. Kal?
A Ss e 4 4 9 :
ἑκάστην μὲν οὖν ἡμέραν δύο ἀμνοὺς ἀνάγειν ᾿δι-
A 14 a ἢ ‘A
εἰρηται, TOV μὲν ἅμα TH ἕῳ, τὸν δὲ δείλης ἑσπέρας,
’ e 7 A A “-
ὑπὲρ εὐχαριστίας ἑκάτερον, τὸν μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν μεθ᾽
9 A ~ 4 ~
ἡμέραν, τὸν δ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν νύκτωρ εὐεργεσιῶν, ἃς
\ 4 “- ~
ἀπαύστως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως ὁ θεὸς τῷ γένει τῶν
3 θ , aA aA >. e ὃ ’᾽ ὃ λ ᾽
170 ἀνσρωπὼν χορήγει. ταῖς eB ὁμαις διπλασιάζει

α See Num. xxviii. 3, 4. They are offered ἐνδελεχῶς, and

in v. 6 are called a ὁλοκαύτωμα ἐνδελεχισμοῦ, whence Philo’s
νδελεχεία in § 170.

194

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 166-170

who bring the sacrifices but also by the officiants, that
the most highly approved of the priests, selected as
most suitable for such inspection, examine them from
the head to the extremities of the feet, both the
visible parts and those which are concealed under
the belly and thighs, for fear that some small blemish
has passed unobserved. The examination is carried 167
out with this excessive minuteness in consideration
not of the victims offered but of the innocence of
those who offer them. For the law would teach
them under this symbol that when they approach
the altar to offer either prayers or thanks they must
come with no infirmity or ailment or evil affection
in the soul, but must endeavour to have it sanctified
and free throughout from defilement, that God when
He beholds it may not turn away His face from the
sight.

XXX. But since the sacrifices are of two kinds, 168
some offered for the whole nation, or rather, it would
be correct to say, for all mankind, others for each
separate individual among those whose sense of
duty makes them worshippers, we must first speak
of those which are general. The system on which
they are arranged is admirable. Some are offered 169
daily, others on the seventh days, others at the new
moons or the beginnings of the sacred month, others
at the fasts, others at the three festal seasons.
α Every day two lambs are to be brought to the altar,
one at dawn, the other towards dusk. Both these
are thank-offerings, one for the benefactions of the
day-time, the other for those of the night, given to the
human race ceaselessly and constantly by the bounty
of God. ®On the seventh days he doubles the number 170

>’ See Num. xxviii. 9, 10.
195

171

172

173

PHILO...

τὸν τῶν ἱερείων ἀριθμόν, ἴσα προστιθεὶς ἴσοις,
ἰσότιμον ἡγούμενος αἰῶνι τὴν ἑβδόμην, ἣν καὶ
γενέθλιον τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ἀνέγραψεν" οὗ χάριν
τὴν τῆς ἑβδόμης θυσίαν ἐξομοιῶσαι τῇ ᾿ evde-
λεχείᾳ᾽ ᾿ τῶν ἡμερησίων ἀμνῶν διενοήθη. δὶς δὲ
καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐπιθυμιᾶται τὰ πάντων εὐ-
ωὠδέστατα θυμιαμάτων εἴσω τοῦ καταπετάσματος,
ἀνίσχοντος ἡλίου καὶ δυομένου, πρό τε τῆς ἑωθινῆς
θυσίας καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἑσπερινήν, ὡς εἶναι τὰ μὲν
ἔναιμα εὐχαριστίαν ὑπὲρ. ἡμῶν τῶν ἐναίμων, τὰ δὲ
θυμιάματα ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ, τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν
λογικοῦ πνεύματος, ὅπερ ἐμορφώθη πρὸς ἀρχέ-
τυπον ἰδέαν εἰκόνος θείας. ἄρτοι δὲ προ-
τίθενται ταῖς ἑβδόμαις ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς τραπέζης ἰσ-
αριθμοι τοῖς μησὶ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, δυσὶ θέμασιν ἀνὰ
ἕξ, [ἰδώδεκα,] κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῶν ἰσημεριῶν ἐκά-
τερα--δύο γάρ εἰσιν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος, ἐαρινή τε καὶ
μετοπωρινή, at μησὶν ἕξ καταριθμοῦνται.----δι᾿ ἣν
αἰτίαν * * * Ceapwy μὲνδ' τὰ σπαρτὰ πάντα τελειο-
γονεῖται, καθ᾽ ὃν χρόνον τὰ δένδρα γεννᾶν ἄρχεται,
μετοπωρινῇ δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν δένδρων καρπὸς τελεσ-

ορεῖται, ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ πάλιν ἀρχὴ σπορᾶς. οὕτως
δολιχεύουσα ἡ φύσις τὸν αἰῶνα ἄλλας ἐπ᾽ ἄλλαις
ἀμείβει δωρεὰς ἀνθρώπων γένει, ὧν εἰσι σύμβολα
αἱ διτταὶ τῶν προκειμένων ἄρτων ἑξάδες. αἰνίτ-
τονται δὲ καὶ τὴν ὠφελιμωτάτην τῶν ἀρετῶν

1 There is clearly a lacuna after δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν, which must
have ended with ἐαρινῇ μὲν or something like it. For Cohn’s
suggestion for filling it see App. p. 621.

\

E€
&
W

@ See on Spec. Leg. ii. 59.

> See Ex. xxx. 7, 8, and note on § 276 below.

¢ 4,6. the lower part of the ψυχή, cf. Quis Rerum 55 with
its quotation of Lev. xvii. 11 ψυχὴ πάσης σαρκὸς αἷμά ἐστιν,

196

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 170-173

of the victims. He makes this addition of a number
equal to the original because he considers the seventh
day, called also in his records the birthday of the whole
world,* to be of equal value to eternity, and therefore
he purposes to assimilate the sacrifice of the seventh
day to the “ perpetuity ”’ of the daily offering of lambs.

Twice too every day the perfume of the mostfragrant 171

kinds of incense is exhaled within the veil at sunrise
and at sunset, both before the morning and after the
evening sacrifice. Thus the blood offerings serve as
thanksgivings for the blood elements in ourselves ¢
and. the incense offerings for our dominant part, the
rational spirit-force within us which was shaped ac-
cording to the archetypal form of the divine image.?

¢But on each seventh day loaves are
exposed on the holy table equal in number to the
months of the year in two layers of six each, each
layer corresponding to the equinoxes. For there are
two equinoxes in each year, in spring and autumn,
with intervals, the sum of which is six months. For
this reason αὶ - * At the spring equinox all the seed
crops come to their fulness just when the trees begin
to produce their fruit, and at the autumn equinox
that same fruit is brought to maturity and it is the
season when the sowing begins again. Thus nature
running its agelong round alternates its gifts to the
human race, symbolized by the two sets of six loaves
exposed upon the table. They are also emblematic

of that most profitable of virtues, continence, which

6

rather than as Heinemann “our bodies.” Possibly, how-
ever, τῶν ἐναίμων agrees with judy, ἐ.6. “‘the animals with
blood are for us who share it with them.”

@ 4.e. the Logos, which, being the εἰκών of God, becomes the
ἀρχέτυπος ἰδέα of the human spirit. Cf. § 81 above and note
on De Som. ii. 45. ὁ See Lev. xxiv. 5-8.

197

172

173

PHILO

ἐγκράτειαν, ἣ δορυφορεῖται πρὸς εὐτελείας καὶ
εὐκολίας καὶ ὀλιγοδεΐας, διὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀκολασίας καὶ
πλεονεξίας βλαβερώτατον ἐπιτειχισμόν: ἄρτος γὰρ
ἐραστῇ σοφίας διαρκὴς τροφή, παρέχουσα καὶ τὰ
σώματα ἄνοσα καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ὑγιῆ καὶ ἐν τοῖς

114 μάλιστα νηφάλιον: ὄψα δὲ καὶ μελίπηκτα καὶ

e 4 λ΄ “-

ἡδύσματα καὶ ὅσα σιτοπόνων καὶ ὀψαρτυτῶν περι-
’ 4

εργίαι τεχνιτεύουσι καταγοητεύουσαι τὴν ἄμουσον
, 9 λ la \ > ὃ ὃ ὃ 4 ~ 3

καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον καὶ ἀνδραποδωδεστάτην τῶν αἷ-
᾽ “- e “- “- \ 3 \

σθήσεων γεῦσιν, ὑπηρετοῦσαν καλῷ μὲν οὐδενὶ

θεάματι ἢ ἀκούσματι, γαστρὸς δὲ τῆς ταλαίνης

3 “-

ἐπιθυμίαις, νόσους σώματι καὶ ψυχῇ κατασκευάζει

4 > 4 A
175 πολλάκις ἀνιάτους. συνεπιτίθεται δὲ τοῖς ἄρτοις

[240]

176

λ \ \ 1A e \ 4 λ “-- δὲ
ιβανωτὸς καὶ | ἅλες, ὁ μὲν σύμβολον τοῦ μηδὲν
[2 'Φ
ἥδυσμα εὐωδέστερον ὀλιγοδεΐας εἶναι καὶ ἐγκρα-
’ \ ’ 4 e > 7 ~
τείας παρὰ σοφίᾳ δικαζούσῃ, οἱ δ᾽ ἅλες διαμονῆς τε
τῶν συμπάντων--οἷς γὰρ ἂν παραπασθῶσι δια-
τηροῦσι--καὶ ἱκανοῦ Ὁ προσοψήματος. οἶδ᾽ ὅτι γέλωτα
καὶ χλεύην ταῦτα θήσονται οἱ περὶ τὰ συμπόσια καὶ
τὰς εὐωχίας πραγματευόμενοι καὶ πολυτελεῖς
τραπέζας μεταδιώκοντες, οἱ ὀρνέων καὶ ἰχθύων καὶ
κρεῶν καὶ τῆς ὁμοιοτρόπου φλυαρίας ἄθλιοι δοῦλοι,
> + 9 “- 3 ’ 4 4
μηδ᾽ ὄναρ ἀληθοῦς ἐλευθερίας γεύσασθαι δυνάμενοι.
ὧν ὀλίγα φροντιστέον τοῖς κατὰ θεὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν
τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ἀρέσκειαν ζῆν ἐγνωκόσιν, ot τῶν
σαρκὸς ἀλογεῖν ἡδονῶν πεπαιδευμένοι τὰς διανοίας
~ “-- 3
χαρὰς καὶ εὐπαθείας θεωρίᾳ τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἐν-
ασκούμενοι μεταδιώκουσι.

α For the general sense of the next sections cf. De Som.
ii. 48-51.

198

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 173-176

has simplicity and contentment and frugality for its
bodyguard against the baleful assaults engineered by
incontinence and covetousness. “For bread to a lover
of wisdom is sufficient sustenance, making the body
proof against disease and the reason sound and sober

in the highest degree. But dainty dishes and honey- 174

cakes and relishes and all the elaborate preparations
with which the skill of pastrycooks and other experts
at the art bewitches the taste, that most slavish of
all the senses, a stranger to culture and philosophy,
a servant not to things beautiful to see or hear but
to the lusts of the wretched belly, create distempers
of soul and body which are often past all cure. On
the loaves there are placed also frankincense and
salt, the former as a symbol that in the court of
wisdom no relish is judged to be more sweet-savoured
than frugality and.temperance, the salt to shew the
permanence of all things, since it preserves whatever
it is sprinkled on, and its sufficiency as a condiment.
All this I know will excite the mockery and ridicule
of those to whom banquetings and high feasting
are a matter of much concern, who run in search
of richly laden tables, miserable slaves to birds
and fishes and fleshpots and similar trash, unable
even in their dreams to taste the flavour of true
freedom. All these things should be held in little
account by those who are minded to live with God
for their standard and for the service of Him that
truly is—men who, trained to disregard the pleasures
of the flesh and practised in the study of nature’s
verities, pursue the joys and sweet comforts of the
intellect.

ὃ So txx, Lev. xxiv. 7. Not in the Hebrew, cf. Mos. ii.

104.
199

175

176

177

178

179

PHILO

Ταῦτα περὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης διαταξάμενος ταῖς
νουμηνίαις φησὶ δεῖν θύειν ὁλόκαυτα δέκα τὰ
σύμπαντα: μόσχους δύο, κριὸν ἕνα, ἀμνοὺς ἕπτά.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὃ μὴν τέλειος, ἐν ᾧ σελήνη τὸν ἑαυτῆς
κύκλον περατοῦται,' τέλειον ἀριθμὸν ζῴων ἠξίωσεν
ἱερουργεῖσθαι. ἡ δεκὰς δὲ παντελὴς ἀριθμός, ὃν εὖ
μάλα διένειμεν εἰς τὰ λεχθέντα, τοὺς μὲν δύο
μόσχους, ἐπειδὴ δύο κινήσεις εἰσὶ σελήνης ἀεὶ
διαυλοδρομούσης, ἡ μὲν κατ᾽ αὔξησιν ἄχρι πλησι-
φαοῦς, ἡ δὲ κατὰ μείωσιν ἄχρι συνόδου, τὸν δ᾽ ἕνα
κριόν, ἐπειδὴ λόγος εἷς ἐστι, καθ᾽ Gv αὔξεταί τε καὶ
μειοῦται τοῖς ἴσοις διαστήμασι καὶ φωτιζομένη καὶ
ἐπιλείπουσα, τοὺς δὲ ἑπτὰ ἀμνούς, ὅτι καθ᾽ ἕβδο-
μάδας ἐπιδέχεται τοὺς τελείους σχηματισμούς,
πρώτῃ μὲν ἑβδομάδι τῇ ἀπὸ συνόδου τὸν διχότομον,

ευτέρᾳ δὲ τὸν πλησιφαῆ, καὶ ὅταν ἀνακάμπτῃ
πάλιν, εἰς διχότομον τὸ πρῶτον, ἔπειτ᾽ εἰς σύνοδον
ἀπολήγει. μετὰ δὲ τῶν ἱερείων σεμίδαλιν ἀνα-
δεδευμένην ἐλαίῳ προσφέρειν καὶ οἶνον εἰς σπονδὰς
μέτροις ζὡρισμέννοις" διετάξατο, διότι καὶ ταῦτα
σελήνης περιόδοις κατὰ τὰς ἐτησίους ὥρας τελε-
σφορεῖται διαφερόντως τοὺς καρποὺς πεπαινούσης,
σῖτος δὲ καὶ οἶνος καὶ ἔλαιον, βιωφελέσταται
οὐσίαι καὶ πρὸς χρῆσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀναγκαιόταται,
πάσαις εἰκότως θυσίαις συγκαθιεροῦνται.

1 So Cohn: ss. περαιοῦται. I feel very doubtful about the
correction. The use of περαιοῦμαι for “ὁ cross,” ‘‘ pass over”’
is common enough, and the association with a cycle, if rather
strange, is not impossible. On the other hand, while περα-
τοῦσθαι in a passive sense is common, I have not seen any
example of its use as a transitive middle.

2. So Cohn. Perhaps μέτροις οἷς {ἔδει or δεῖ διετάξατο.

@ See Num. xxviii. 11-14.

200

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 177-179

Having given these orders with regard to the 177
seventh days, he deals with the new moons. “At
these times whole-burnt-offerings must be sacrificed,
ten in all, two calves, one ram, and seven lambs.
For since the month in which the moon fulfils its
cycle is a complete or perfect whole,® he considered
that the number of animals to be sacrificed should be
perfect. Now ten is a perfect number, and he dis- 178
tributed it excellently among the above-mentioned
items ; two calves because the moon as she runs for
ever her race forwards and backwards has two
motions, one as she waxes till she becomes full, one
as she wanes to her conjunction with the sun; one
ram because there is one law or principle by which
she waxes and wanes at equal intervals, both when
her light grows and when it fails ; seven lambs be-
cause the complete changes of form to which she is
subject are measured in sevens.° In the first seven
from the conjunction we have the half moon, in the
second the full moon, and when she is reversing her
course she passes first into the half moon and then
dies away into the conjunction. With the victims 179
he ordered that fine meal, soaked in oil, should be
brought, and wine for libations in stated quantities,
because these also are brought to their fullness by
the revolutions of the moon at the various seasons
of the year, and especially by its effect upon the
ripening of the fruits, and corn, oil and wine are
things possessing qualities most profitable to life and
most necessary for human use and therefore are
naturally consecrated with all the sacrifices.

> Or “since the month (i.e. the past month) is completed,”’

and so Heinemann, but the context suggests that it is the
month which is coming which is under consideration.

¢ Cf. De Op. 101.
201

PHILO

A x ¢ ’ A 4 : 4

180 Τῇ δ᾽ ἱερομηνίᾳ διττὰ θύματα προσάγεται mpoo-
ηἠκόντως, ἐπεὶ καὶ διττὸς ὁ περὶ αὐτῆς λόγος, δ᾽
μὲν ὡς νουμηνίας, 6 δὲ ὡς ἱερομηνίας. ἧ μὲν οὖν
νουμηνία, τὰ ἴσα ταῖς ἄλλαις ἱερουργεῖσθαι δι-

’ Ὁ A Ve ’ὔ 4 A ~
είρηται, ἡ δὲ Kal ἱερομηνία, διπλασιάζεται τὰ δῶρα,
δίχα τῶν μόσχων: εἷς γὰρ ἀντὶ δυεῖν προσάγεται,
τοῦ βραβευτοῦ δικαιώσαντος ἀδιαιρέτῳ φύσει
μονάδος πρὸ διαιρετῆς δυάδος χρήσασθαι ἐν ἀρχῇ
τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ.

181 Ἔν δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ καιρῷ--πρῶτον δὲ καιρὸν τὴν
ἐαρινὴν ὥραν καὶ ἰσημερίαν καλεῖ--προστάξας ἑ ἑπτὰ
ἡμέρας ἑορτὴν ἀγειν τὴν ἐπικαλουμένην τῶν ἀζύ-
μων ἰσοτίμους ἀπέφηνε πάσας ἐν ταῖς ἱερουργίαις"
δέκα γὰρ ὅσα καὶ ταῖς νουμηνίαις θύειν καθ᾽
ἑκάστην κελεύει, τὰ σύμπαντα ὁλόκαυτα, δίχα τῶν

182 περὶ πλημμελείας, ἀριθμὸν ἑβδομήκοντα. τὸν γὰρ
αὐτὸν ἔχειν φήθη λόγον πρὸς μῆνα νουμηνίαν ὃν
πρὸς ἰσημερίαν ἑβδόμῳ μηνὶ γινομένην τὰς ἑπτὰ
τῆς ἑορτῆς ἡμέρας, ἵν᾽ ἀποφήνῃ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν
ἑκάστου μηνὸς ἱερὰν καὶ ἀθρόων τῶν ἑπτὰ τὰς
ἰσαρίθμους ταῖς νουμηνίαις ἡμέρας.

1823 Μεσοῦντος δὲ ἔαρος ἄμητος ἐνίσταται, καθ᾽ ὃν
καιρὸν χαριστήρια μὲν ἀνάγεται τῷ θεῷ τῆς πεδιά-

4“ See Num. xxix. 1-6. On the term ἑἱερομηνία see on De
Dec. 159 (App.).

> See App. p. 621.

¢ See Num. xxviii. 17-24.

¢ Implied though not actually stated in Ex. xxiii. 14,
‘Three times (καιρούς) in the year keep a feast for Me.”
Then after enumerating the three great feasts “three times
(καιρούς) shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.”

¢ In § 172 Philo based the number of sacrifices on the s7x

months between the equinoxes; here on the fact that each
equinox occurs in the seventh month before the next.

202

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 180-188

“At the beginning of the sacred month double 180

sacrifices are offered in accordance with its double
aspect, first as new moon simply, secondly as the
opening of the sacred month. Regarding it as new
moon, the sacrifices ordered are the same as those of
other new moons. Taking it as a sacred-month-day
the oblations are doubled except in the case of the
calves : only one of these is offered, the awarder hav-
ing judged that at the beginning of the year® the
monad whose nature is indivisible is preferable to the
divisible dyad.

‘At the first season, which name ὦ he gives to the
springtime and its equinox, he ordained that what
is called the feast of unleavened bread should be kept
for seven days, all of which he declared should be
honoured equally in the ritual assigned to them.
For he ordered ten sacrifices to be offered each day
as at the new moons, whole-burnt-offerings amounting
to seventy in all apart from the sin-offerings. He
considered, that is, that the seven days of the feast
bore the same relation to the equinox which falls in
the seventh month? as the new moon does to the
month. Thus he assigned the same sanctity both to
the beginning of each month considered singly and
to the seven days of the feast, which being of the
‘ same number as the new moons represented them
collectively.

In the middle of the spring comes the corn harvest.
At this season thank-offerings are brought for the

f See for the Feast of Weeks Lev. xxiii. 15 ff.-Num. xxviii.
26 ff. There is some discrepancy as to the details. The name
πρωτογεννημάτων and the lambs for the “‘ preservation-offer-
ing ἡ (E.V. “ peace-offering’’) come from the former. The
name πρωτ. is also given to it in Ex. xxiii. 16.

203

181

182

183

PHILO

dos ἐπὶ τῷ πλήρη τὸν καρπὸν ἐνηνοχέναι Kal τὰ
θέρη συγκομίζεσθαι, δημοτελεστάτη δ᾽ ἄγεται ἑορτὴ
προσαγορευομένη πρωτογεννημάτων ἐτύμως ἀπὸ
τοῦ συμβεβηκότος, ἐπειδὴ τῶν γεννημάτων τὰ
184 πρῶτα, at ἀπαρχαί, τότε καθιεροῦνται. προστέτα-
κται δ᾽ ἀνάγειν θυσίας μόσχους δύο, κριὸν ἕνα καὶ
ἑπτὰ ἀμνούς, ταῦτα μὲν δέκα ἱερεῖα ὁλόκαυτα, δύο
δ᾽ ἀμνοὺς εἰς βρῶσιν ἱερέων, οὗς ἐπικαλεῖ σωτηρίου
διὰ τὸ τὰς τροφὰς ἀνθρώποις ἐκ πολλῶν καὶ παντο-
δαπῶν διασεσῶσθαι: φθοραὶ γὰρ εἰώθασι κατα-
λαμβάνειν, αἱ μὲν ἐπομβρίαις, at δ᾽ αὐχμοῖς, ai δ᾽
ἄλλαις ἀμυθήτοις νεωτεροποιΐαις, at δ᾽ αὖ χειρο-
ποίητοι κατ᾽ ἐφόδους ἐχθρῶν τὴν τῶν πέλας γῆν
185 δῃοῦν ἐπιχειρούντων. εἰκότως οὖν τὰ σῶστρα τῷ
πάσας ἀποσκεδάσαντι τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς ἀνάγεται χαρι-
στήρια καὶ ἀνάγεται ἄρτοις, οὗς προσενεγκόντες τῷ
βωμῷ καὶ ἄνω πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀνατείναντες ἐπι-
διανέμουσι τοῖς ἱερεῦσι μετὰ τῶν κρεῶν τῆς τοῦ
σωτηρίου θυσίας εἰς ἱεροπρεπεστάτην εὐωχίαν.
186 Ὅταν δ᾽ ὁ τρίτος ἐνστῇ καιρὸς ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ
μηνὶ κατ᾽ ἰσημερίαν μετοπωρινήν, ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν
ἱερομηνία ἄγεται προσαγορευομένη σαλπίγγων,
περὶ ἧς ἐλέχθη πρότερον, δεκάτῃ δ᾽ ἡ νηστεία, περὶ -
ἣν ἐσπουδάκασιν οὐ μόνον οἷς ζῆλος εὐσεβείας καὶ
ὁσιότητος, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἷς κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον βίον εὐαγὲς
οὐδὲν δρᾶται: πάντες γὰρ ἡττώμενοι τοῦ περὶ αὐτὴν

α 2,6. in 8 180. For the name “feast of trumpets’”’ see
Lev. xxiii. 24 E.V. ‘‘a memorial of blowing of trumpets”’
(LXxX μνημόσυνον σαλπίγγων).

> For the “ Fast’ or ‘‘ Day of Atonement ”’ see Num. xxix.
7-11.

204

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 188-186

lowlands because they have borne fruit in full and
the summer crops are being gathered in. This feast,
which is universally observed, is called the feast of
first-products, a name which expresses the facts, be-
cause the first specimens of the produce, the sample
oblations, are then consecrated. The sacrifices
ordered on this occasion are two calves, one ram and
seven lambs, these ten as victims to be entirely con-
sumed by fire, and also two lambs to be eaten by
the priests. These last he calls preservation-offer-
ings because mankind has had its food preserved from
many vicissitudes of every kind. For that food is
commonly subject to destructive forces, sometimes
rain-storms, sometimes droughts, or numberless other
violent changes in nature, sometimes again from
human activities through the invasions of enemies
who attempt to lay waste the land of their neighbours.
Naturally, therefore, the thank-offerings for preserva-
tion are brought to Him Who has scattered all the
forces which threatened mischief. They are also
brought in the form of loaves which the worshippers
carry to the altar and after holding them with out-
stretched arms up to heaven distribute to the priests
together with the flesh of the preservation-offering
to regale them in a way well worthy of their sacred
office.

When the third special season has come in the
seventh month at the autumnal equinox there is held
at its outset the sacred-month-day called trumpet
day, of which I have spoken above.? On the tenth
day is the fast,® which is carefully observed not only
by the zealous for piety and holiness but also by those
who never act religiously in the rest of their life.
For all stand in awe, overcome by the sanctity of the

205

185

186

PHILO

ἱεροπρεποῦς τεθήπασι καὶ οἱ χείρους τοῖς βελτίοσι
τότε γοῦν εἰς ἐγκράτειαν καὶ ἀρετὴν ἁμιλλῶνται.

187 διττοὺς δ᾽ ἔχει λόγους τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς ἡμέρας, τοὺς
μὲν ὡς ἑορτῆς, τοὺς δὲ ὡς καθάρσεως καὶ φυγῆς
ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἀμνηστία δέδοται χάρισι τοῦ
ἵλεω θεοῦ μετάνοιαν ἐν ἴσῳ τῷ μηδὲ ἁμαρτάνειν

188 τετιμηκότος. τὰς μὲν οὖν ὡς ἑορτῆς θυσίας ἰσ-
αρίθμους ἀπέφηνε ταῖς τῶν ἱερομηνιῶν, μόσχον καὶ
κριὸν καὶ ἑπτὰ ἄρνας, ἀνακερασάμενος μονάδα
ἑβδομάδι καὶ πρὸς ἀρχὴν τὸ τέλος ἀπευθύνας---
τέλος μὲν γὰρ ἔργων ἕβδομάς, ἀρχὴν δὲ μονὰς
κεκλήρωται,---τὰς δ᾽ ὡς καθάρσεως (τρεῖς): προσ-
τάττει γὰρ δύο χιμάρους ἀνάγειν καὶ κριόν, εἶτά
φησι δεῖν τὸν μὲν ὁλοκαυτοῦν, διακληροῦν δὲ τοὺς
χιμάρους, καὶ τὸν μὲν λαχόντα τῷ θεῷ θύειν, τὸν
δ᾽ ἕτερον εἰς ἀτριβῆ καὶ ἄβατον ἐρημίαν ἐκπέμπειν
ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ κομίζοντα τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν πλημμελη-
σάντων ἀράς, ot μεταβολαῖς ταῖς πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον
ἐκαθάρθησαν, εὐνομίᾳ καινῇ παλαιὰν ἀνομίαν
ἐκνιψάμενοι.

189 Τῇ δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ τῆς πλησιφαοῦς σελήνης
ἄγεται ἡ ἐπικαλουμένη σκηνῶν ἕορτή, καθ᾽ ἣν
πλείους εἰσὶν at χορηγίαι τῶν θυσιῶν: καταθύονται
γὰρ ἐφ᾽ ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ μόσχοι μὲν ἑβδομήκοντα,
κριοὶ δὲ τέσσαρες καὶ δέκα, ἄρνες δὲ δυοῖν δεόντων
ἑκατόν, ἅπαντα ζῷα ὁλόκαυτα. προστέτακται δὲ
καὶ τὴν ὀγδόην ἱερὰν νομίζειν, περὶ ἧς ἀκριβωτέον,

1 mss μηδὲν, Cohn’s correction is perhaps due to ἃ feeling
that τὸ μηδὲν ἁμαρτεῖν would indicate complete sinlessness,

which is not possible for the ordinary man. Cf. De Virt.
177, De Fuga 157.

206

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 186-189

day, and for the moment the worse vie with the better

in self-denial and virtue. The high dignity of this 187

day has two aspects, one as a festival, the other as a
time of purification and escape from sins, for which
indemnity is granted by the bounties of the gracious
God Who has given to repentance the same honour
as to innocence from sin. Treating it as a festival
day, he made the sacrifices of the same number as
those of the sacred-month-days, namely a calf and
a ram and seven lambs, thus blending the one with
the seven and putting the completion in a line with
the beginning. For to seven belongs the completion
of actions, to one their beginning. Treating it as a
purification, he added three more and bade them
bring two kids and a ram, ordering that the last-
named should be consumed entirely by fire and that a
lot should be cast for the kids. *The one on whom the
lot fell was to be sacrificed to God, the other was to
be sent out into a trackless and desolate wilderness
bearing on its back the curses which had lain upon
the transgressors who have now been purified by
conversion to the better life and through their new
obedience have washed away their old disobedience
to the law.

’On the fifteenth day of this month at the full moon
is held the feast of tabernacles, as it is called, and on
this the supply of sacrificial offerings is on a larger
scale, for during seven days there are sacrificed
seventy calves, fourteen rams and ninety-eight lambs.
All these animals are consumed entirely by fire. °Itis
also commanded that the eighth day is to be observed
as holy. This last must be treated in detail when

@ See Lev. xvi. 9, 10. δ See Num. xxix. 19-34.
¢ See Num. xxix. 36.

207

188

189

100

19]

PHILO

ὅταν σύμπας ὁ περὶ τῶν ἑορτῶν ἐξετάζηται λόγος,
ἐν ἡ προσάγεται ὅσα καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἱερομηνίαις.

Αἱ μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους ἣ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν
ὑπὲρ παντὸς ἀνθρώπων γένους κοιναὶ καὶ ὁλόκαυτοι
θυσίαι κατ᾽ ἐμὴν δύναμιν εἴρηνται. ταῖς δ᾽ ὅλο-
καύτοις καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἑορτῆς παρέπεται
χίμαρος, ὃς καλεῖται μὲν περὶ ἁμαρτίας, καταθύεται
δὲ εἰς ἁμαρτημάτων. ἄφεσιν, οὗ τὰ κρέα τοῖς
ἱερεῦσιν εἰς ἐδωδὴν ἀπονέμεται. τίς οὖν αἰτία;

ἢ ὅτι ἑορτὴ καιρός ἐστιν εὐφροσύνης, ἡ δ᾽ ἀψευδὴς

καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν εὐφροσύνη φρόνησίς ἐστιν ἐν-
ιδρυμένη ψυχῇ βεβαίως, φρόνησιν δ᾽ ἀκλινῆ λαβεῖν
οὐκ ἔνεστιν ἄνευ "θεραπείας ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ
παθῶν ἐκτομῆς; ἄτοπον γὰρ ἕκαστον μὲν τῶν
ὁλακαντουμένων ἀσινὲς καὶ ἀβλαβὲς ἀνευρισκό-
μενον καθιεροῦσθαι, τὴν δὲ τοῦ θύοντος διάνοιαν
μὴ οὐ κεκαθάρθαι πάντα τρόπον καὶ πεφαιδρύνθαι
λουτροῖς καὶ περιρραντηρίοις χρησαμένην, ἅπερ ὃ
τῆς φύσεως ὀρθὸς λόγος δι᾽ ὑγιαινόντων καὶ ἀδια-

192 φθόρων ὥτων ψυχαῖς φιλοθέοις ἐπαντλεῖ. πρὸς δὲ

τούτῳ κἀκεῖνο δεόντως ἂν λέγοιτο" αἱ ἑορτώδεις
ἀνέσεις αὗται καὶ ἐκεχειρίαι μυρίας ἤδη πολλάκις
ἁμαρτημάτων ὁδοὺς ἀνέτεμον: ἄκρατος γὰρ καὶ αἱ
μετ᾽ οἰνοφλυγίας ὀψοφαγίαι τὰς γαστρὸς ἀκορέ-
στους ἐπιθυμίας ἐγείρουσαι προσαναφλέγουσι καὶ
τὰς ὑπὸ γαστέρα, καὶ ῥέουσαι καὶ χεόμεναι πάντῃ
φορὰν ἀμυθήτων ἀπεργάζονται κακῶν τὸ τῆς

1 So Cohn punctuates. Better perhaps τίς οὖν αἰτία ἢ ὅτι,

** What is the cause but ὑπαὶ... .?” Cf. ili. 84.

@ See ii. 211.
> The mention of the sin-offering occurs regularly in Num.

208

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 189-192

the subject of the feasts as a whole comes up for dis-
cussion.? The number of offerings brought are the
same as on the sacred-month-days.

The general sacrifices in the form of burnt-offerings
performed on behalf of the nation or, to speak more
correctly, on behalf of the human race, have now been
described to the best of my ability. But these burnt-
offerings are accompanied on each day of a feast by
the sacrifice of a kid called the sin-offering offered for
the remission of sins, its flesh being put aside to be
eaten by the priests.2. What is the reason for this
addition? Is it that a feast is a season of joy, and
the true joy in which there is no illusion is wisdom
firmly established in the soul, and the wisdom that is
stable cannot be acquired without applying medicine
to the sin and surgery to the passions? For it would
be a strange inconsistency if, while each of the victims
consumed in the burnt-offering is only dedicated when
found to be free from mischief and blemish, the mind
of the worshipper should not be purified in every way
and washed clean and fair by the ablutions and lustra-
tions, which the right reason of nature pours into the
souls of those who love God through ears that are
sound in health and free from corruption. But be-
sides this something else may be justly said. These
festal occasions of relaxation and cessation from work
have often ere now opened up countless avenues to
transgressions. For strong drink and gross eating
accompanied. by wine-bibbing, while they awaken
the insatiable lusts of the belly, inflame also the lusts
seated below it, and as they stream along and over-
flow on every side they create a torrent of evils in-

xxviii. and xxix. for the separate occasions (xxviii. 15, 22, 30;
xxix. 5, 11, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38).

VOL. VII P 209

190

191

192

193

194

195

PHILO

A ’ὔ’ 9 A
ἑορτῆς ἀδεὲς ὁρμητήριον ἔχουσαι Kal πρὸς TO μηδὲν
παθεῖν καταφυγήν. ἅπερ συνιδὼν οὐκ ἐφῆκε κατὰ

A 9 A aA ΕΣ e 4 9 9 9 9 “- “- ~
τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἑορτάζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τῆς
’ὔ “- ~ 9 4
εὐφροσύνης καιρῷ πρῶτον μὲν ἐκέλευσεν ἁγνεύειν
9 ’ A 919 ς A e 4, > 9 A
ἐπιστομίζοντας τὰς ἐφ᾽ ἡδονὴν ὁρμάς, εἶτα εἰς TO
ἱερὸν ἐπὶ μετουσίαν ὕμνων καὶ εὐχῶν καὶ θυσιῶν
4 “--ς 4 ~ A
ἐκάλεσεν, ἵνα κἀκ τοῦ τόπου κἀκ τῶν ὁρωμένων Kal
“- ’ὔ ,
λεγομένων διὰ τῶν κυριωτάτων αἰσθήσεων, ὄψεως
καὶ ἀκοῆς, ἐγκρατείας ἅμα καὶ εὐσεβείας ἐρασθω-
σιν, εἶτ᾽ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὑπέμνησε τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν διὰ
“- “- 4 > 9
τῆς θυσίας τοῦ περὶ ἁμαρτίας" ὁ γὰρ ἀμνηστίαν ἐφ
χὰ ἢ 9 ’ὔ
οἷς ἥμαρτεν αἰτούμενος οὐχ οὕτως ἐστὶ κακοδαίμων
[2 9 9 Φ 4 - 9 “
ὥστ᾽ ἐν ᾧ χρόνῳ παλαιῶν ἀδικημάτων αἰτεῖται
4 ω a
λύσιν ἕτερα καινοτομεῖν.
“--ς A “2
XXXVI. Τοσαῦτα περὶ τούτων διαλεχθεὶς ap-
aA “- ~ A 4 9
χεται διαιρεῖν τὰ τῶν θυσιῶν γένη καὶ τέμνων εἰς
εἴδη τρία τὰ ἀνωτάτω τὸ μὲν ὁλόκαυτον καλεῖ, τὸ
4 aA
δὲ σωτήριον, TO δὲ περὶ ἁμαρτίας" εἶθ᾽ ἕκαστον τοῖς
ς ’ὕ , “- “-
ἁρμόττουσιν ἐπικοσμεῖ τοῦ πρέποντος ἅμα καὶ
εὐαγοῦς οὐ μετρίως στοχασάμενος. παγκάλη δὲ
καὶ προσφυεστάτη τοῖς πράγμασιν ἡ διαίρεσις
9 4 + AN e ’ 9 A 4 4
ἀκολουθίαν ἔχουσα Kat εἷρμόν- εἰ γὰρ βούλοιτό τις
ἐξετάζειν ἀκριβῶς τὰς αἰτίας, ὧν ἕνεκα τοῖς πρώ-

” 9 4 9 A A A “- 9
τοις ἔδοξεν ἀνθρώποις ἐπὶ τὰς διὰ θυσιῶν εὐχαρι-

’ὔ ς σ΄ N A 9 aA e 4 ᾽ A
otias ὁμοῦ καὶ λιτὰς ἐλθεῖν, εὑρήσει δύο τὰς
9 ’ὔ ’ὔ ‘ ’ὔ A yy
ἀνωτάτω" μίαν μὲν τὴν πρὸς θεὸν τιμήν, τὴν ἄνευ
τινὸς ἑτέρου δι᾿ αὐτὸν μόνον γινομένην ὡς ἀναγ-

“- A 4 e ᾽ὔ A A ~ (4
Katov {καὶ καλόν, ἑτέραν δὲ τὴν τῶν θυόντων
210 ᾿

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 192-195

numerable, because they have the immunity of the
feast for their headquarters and refuge from retribu-
tion. All this the lawgiver observed and therefore
did not permit his people to conduct their festivities
like other nations, but first he bade them in the very
hour of their joy make themselves pure by curbing
the appetites for pleasure. Then he summoned them
to the sanctuary to take their part in hymns and
prayers and sacrifices, that the place and the spec-
tacles there presented and the words there spoken,
working through the lordliest of the senses, sight and
hearing, may make them enamoured of continence
and piety. Last of all by the sin-offering he warned
them against continuing in sin, for he who asks for
absolution of the sins he has committed is not so lost
a wretch as to embark on other new offences at the
very time when he asks for remission of the old.
XXXVI. After having discoursed to this extent
on these subjects he begins to classify the kinds of
sacrifices. He divides them into three principal
classes which he calls respectively the whole-burnt-
offering, the preservation-offering and the sin-offering.
To each of these he adds the adornment of suitable
ritual, in which he succeeds admirably in combining
decorum with reverence. His classification is quite
excellent and perfectly fits the facts to which it
shews a logical sequence. For if anyone cares to
examine closely the motives which led men of the
earliest times ‘to resort to sacrifices as a medium of
prayer and thanksgiving, he will find that two hold
the highest place. One is the rendering of honour
to God for the sake of Him only and with no other
motive, a thing both necessary and excellent. The
other is the signal benefit which the worshipper

211

193

194

195

196

197

[241]

198

199

PHILO

προηγουμένην ὠφέλειαν: διττή δ᾽ ἐστίν, ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ
μετουσίᾳ ἀγαθῶν, ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ κακῶν ἀπαλλαγῇ. τῇ
μὲν οὖν κατὰ θεὸν καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὸν μόνον γινομένῃ
προσήκουσαν ὁ νόμος ἀπένειμε θυσίαν τὴν ὁλό-
καυτον, ὁλοκλήρῳ καὶ παντελεῖ μηδὲν ἐπιφερομένῃ
τῆς θνητῆς φιλαυτίας ὁλόκληρον καὶ παντελῆ" τὴν
δὲ χάριν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπειδὴ διαίρεσιν ἐπεδέχετο ἡ
δόξα, καὶ αὐτὸς διεῖλε, κατὰ μὲν τὴν μετουσίαν τῶν
ἀγαθῶν ὁ ὁρίσας θυσίαν 7 ἣν ὠνόμασε σωτήριον, τῇ δὲ
φυγῇ τῶν κακῶν ἀπονείμας τὴν περὶ ἁμαρτίας. ὡς
τρεῖς εἶναι δεόντως ἐπὶ τρισί, τὴν μὲν ὁλόκαυτον δι᾿
αὐτὸν μόνον τὸν | θεόν, ὃ ὃν καλὸν τιμᾶσθαι, μὴ δι᾽
ἕτερον, τὰς δ᾽ ἄλλας δι᾽ ἡμᾶς, τὴν μὲν σωτήριον ἐπὶ
σωτηρίᾳ καὶ βελτιώσει τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγ-
μάτων, τὴν δὲ περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ ὧν
ἐπλημμέλησεν ἡ ψυχή.

XXXVII. Λεκτέον δὲ περὶ ἑκάστης τὰ νομο-
θετηθέντα τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησαμένους ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρίστης"
ἀρίστη δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἡ ὁλόκαυτος. ἔστω δή, φησί,
πρῶτον μὲν τὸ ἱερεῖον ἄρρεν, ἐκ τῶν πρὸς τὰς
θυσίας ἀριστίνδην ζῴων ἐπικριθέντων, μόσχος ἢ
ἀμνὸς ἢ ἔριφος" ἔπειτα δ᾽ ἀπονιψάμενος ὁ προσάγων
τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιφερέτω τῇ τοῦ ἱερείου κεφαλῇ" καὶ
μετὰ ταῦτα λαβών τις τῶν ἱερέων καταθυέτω καὶ
φιάλην ἕτερος ὑποσχὼν καὶ δεξάμενος τοῦ αἵματος
ἐν κύκλῳ περιϊὼν τὸν βωμὸν ἐπιρραινέτω, καὶ τὸ
ἱερεῖον ἀποδαρὲν εἰς ὁλόκληρα μέλη διανεμέσθω,
κοιλίας ἀποπλυνομένης καὶ ποδῶν' εἶτα σύμπαν τῷ
ἱερῷ πυρὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ παραδιδόσθω, γεγονὸς καὶ ἐξ

1 MSS. μέρη.

@ See Lev. i. 3 ff.
212

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 195-199

receives, and this is twofold, on one side directed to
obtaining a share in blessings, on the other to release
from evils. To the God-ward motive which has Him

196

alone in view he assigned the whole-burnt-offering, -

for, whole and complete in itself as it is, it fits in
well with the same qualities in the motive which
carries with it no element of mortal self-interest ;
but where human interests were concerned, since
the idea admitted of division, the lawgiver also made
a division, and appointed what he called a pre-
servation-offering to correspond to the aspiration for
participation in blessings, while he assigned the sin-
offering for avoidance of evils. Thus very properly
there are three offerings for three objects, the whole-
burnt-offering having no other in view but God Him-
self alone Whom it is good to honour, the other two
having ourselves in view, the preservation-offering
for the safe preserving and bettering of human
affairs, the sin-offering for the healing of the tres-
asses which the soul has committed.

XXXVII. We must now describe the ordinances
dealing with each of these sacrifices, beginning with
the best, which is the whole-burnt-offering. ¢ First of
all, he says the victim must be a male specimen of the
animals selected as best for the purpose, namely, a
calf-or lamb or kid. Secondly, the giver must wash
his hands and lay them on the head of the victim,
and after this one priest must take and slay it while
another priest holds a vial below and after catching
some of the blood goes all round the altar and sprinkles
it thereon. The victim after being flayed must be
divided into parts complete in themselves, while the

197

198

199

belly and feet are washed, and then the whole must: ” ~

be given over to the sacred fire of the altar. Thus

215

PHILO

“- “- : e e :
200 ἑνὸς πολλὰ καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ἕν. ταῦτα μὲν ἡ ῥητὴ
πρόσταξις περιέχει. μηνύεται δὲ καὶ νοῦς ἕτερος
9 ’ 4 Ψ A \ 4 4
αἰνιγματώδη λόγον ἔχων τὸν διὰ συμβόλων: σύμ-
9 9 Ἁ \ 4 A 3 4 \
Boda δ᾽ ἐστὶ ta λεχθέντα φανερὰ ἀδήλων καὶ
ἀφανῶν. ἄρρεν εὐθέως τὸ ὁλόκαυτον
e A 9 \ A lA \ 4 \
ἱερεῖον, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ θήλεος καὶ τελειότερον καὶ
ἡγεμονικώτερον καὶ συγγενέστερον αἰτίῳ δραστι-
K@* τὸ γὰρ θῆλυ ἀτελές, ὑπήκοον, ἐν τῷ πάσχειν
“A av A 3 ’ A > »ν» 3
201 μᾶλλον ἢ ποιεῖν ἐξεταζόμενον. δυοῖν δ᾽ ὄντων, ἐξ
ὧν ἡ ἡμετέρα ψυχὴ συνέστη, λογικοῦ τε καὶ ἀλόγου,
τὸ μὲν λογικὸν τῆς ἄρρενος γενεᾶς ἐστιν, ὅπερ νοῦς
καὶ λογισμὸς κεκλήρωται, τὸ δ᾽ ἄλογον τῆς πρὸς
aA / ” A
γυναικῶν, ὅπερ ἔλαχεν αἴσθησις. νοῦς δὲ αἰσθή-
> /
σεως, WS ἀνὴρ γυναικός, καθ᾽ ὅλον γένος ἀμείνων,
Δ Y Ἅ \ \ 4 aA A
ὃς ἄμωμος ὧν Kat καθαρθεὶς καθάρσεσι ταῖς ἀρετῆς
’ 3 ’
τελείας, αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ εὐαγεστάτη θυσία καὶ ὅλη
9 [2 9 A \ \ 3
202 du’ ὅλων εὐάρεστος θεῷ. τὰς δὲ ἐπι-᾿
τιθεμένας τῇ τοῦ ζῴου κεφαλῇ χεῖρας δεῖγμα σα-
φέστατον εἶναι συμβέβηκε πράξεων ἀνυπαιτίων καὶ
βίου μηδὲν ἐπιφερομένου τῶν εἰς κατηγορίαν ἀλλὰ
A “A / A
τοῖς τῆς φύσεως νόμοις Kat θεσμοῖς συνάδοντος.
208 βούλεται γὰρ τοῦ θύοντος πρῶτον μὲν τὸν νοῦν
ὡσιῶσθαι γνώμαις ἀγαθαῖς καὶ συμφερούσαις ἐν-
, A ’
ασκούμενον, ἔπειτα δὲ τὸν βίον ἐξ ἀρίστων συν-
εστάναι πράξεων, ὡς ἅμα τῇ τῶν χειρῶν ἐπιθέσει
δύνασθαί τινα παρρησιασάμενον ἐκ καθαροῦ τοῦ
A 9 A A “ae
204 συνειδότος τοιαῦτα εἰπεῖν: at χεῖρες αὗται οὔτε
~ > 9 3590} ” » Ἁ 9 e “- \
δῶρον em ἀδίκοις ἔλαβον οὔτε τὰς ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς Kal
\ 4 ,
[942] πλεονεξίας διανομὰς οὔτε αἵματος | ἀθῴου προσ-
1 μ88. τελείαις.

214

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 199-204

the one in it has become many and the many one.
These are the contents of the ordinance taken 200
literally. But another meaning also is indicated of
the mystical character which symbols convey ; words:
in their plain sense are symbols of things latent and
obscure. In the first place the victim of
the whole-burnt-offering is a male because the male
is more complete, more dominant than the female,
closer akin to causal activity, for the female is
incomplete and in subjection and belongs to the
category of the passive rather than the active. So 201
too with the two ingredients which constitute our
life-principle, the rational and the irrational; the
rational which belongs to mind and reason is of
the masculine gender, the irrational, the province of
sense, is of the feminine. Mind belongs to a genus
wholly superior to sense as man is to woman; un-
blemished and purged, as perfect virtue purges, it
is itself the most religious of sacrifices and its whole
being is highly pleasing to God. In the 202
laying of hands on the head of the animal we find the
clearest possible type of blameless actions and of a
life saddled with nothing that leads to censure but in
harmony with the laws and statutes of nature. For 203
the law desires, first, that the mind of the worshipper
should be sanctified by exercise in good and profit-
able thoughts and judgements ; secondly, that his life
should be a consistent course of the best actions, so
that as he lays his hands on the victim, he can boldly
and with a pure conscience. speak in this wise:
“ These hands have taken no gift to do injustice, nor 204
shared in the proceeds of plunder or overreaching,
nor been soiled with innocent blood. None have

2 Of, § 208.
Q15

205

206

207

208

PHILO

ἤψαντο, οὐ πήρωσιν, οὐχ ὕβριν, οὐ τραῦμα, ov
βίαν ἐξειργάσαντο, οὐκ ἄλλο τὸ παράπαν οὐδὲν τῶν
κατηγορίαν καὶ ψόγον ἐχόντων ὑπηρέτησαν, ἀλλ᾽
ὑποδιάκονοι πάντων ἐγένοντο τῶν καλῶν καὶ συμ-
φερόντων, ἃ παρὰ σοφίᾳ καὶ νόμοις καὶ σοφοῖς καὶ
νομίμοις ἀνδράσι τετίμηται. XXXVIII.
τὸ δ᾽ αἷμα κύκλῳ προσχεῖται TH βωμῷ, διότι
κύκλος σχημάτων {τὸν τελειότατον καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ
μέρος μηδὲν ἔρημον καὶ κενὸν ἀπολειφθῆναι ψυ-
χικῆς σπονδῆς" ψυχῆς γὰρ κυρίως εἰπεῖν ἐστι
σπονδὴ τὸ αἷμα. συμβολικῶς οὖν ἀναδιδάσκει τὴν
διάνοιαν ὅλην dv ὅλων ἐν κύκλῳ χορεύουσαν ἐν
πάσαις ἰδέαις λόγων καὶ βουλευμάτων καὶ ἔργων
ἐπιδείκνυσθαι τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀρέσκειαν.
ἀποπλύνεσθαι δὲ κοιλίαν καὶ πόδας διείρηται, πάνυ
συμβολικῶς: διὰ μὲν γὰρ τῆς κοιλίας αἰνίττεται τὴν
ἐπιθυμίαν, ἣν ἐκνίπτεσθαι συμφέρον κηλίδων καὶ
μιασμάτων καὶ μέθης καὶ παροινίας μεστήν, κακὸν —
βλαβερώτατον ἐπὶ λύμῃ τοῦ βίου τῶν ἀνθρώπων
συγκροτούμενόν τε καὶ συνασκούμενον᾽ διὰ δὲ τοῦ
τοὺς πόδας ἀπολούεσθαι τὸ μηκέτι βαίνειν ἐπὶ γῆς.
ἀλλ᾽ αἰθεροβατεῖν- ἡ “γὰρ τοῦ φιλοθέου ψυχὴ πρὸς
ἀλήθειαν ἀπὸ γῆς ἄνω πρὸς οὐρανὸν πηδᾷ καὶ
πτερωθεῖσα μετεωροπολεῖ συντάττεσθαι γλιχομένη
καὶ συγχορεύειν ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ τῇ τῶν. ἄλλων
ἀστέρων ἱερωτάτῃ καὶ παναρμονίῳ στρατιᾷ, ταξι-
αρχοῦντος καὶ ἡγεμονεύοντος τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τὴν
ἀνανταγώνιστον καὶ ἀναφαίρετον βασιλείαν ἔ ἔχοντος,
δι᾿ ἧς ἐνδίκως ἕκαστα πρυτανεύεται.

δὲ εἰς μέλη τοῦ ζῴου διανομὴ δηλοῖ, ἤτοι ws ἕν τὰ

α 2,6. the ψυχή in its lower sense (cf. § 177) is an apposite
symbol of the higher ψυχή, ‘ the mind.”

916

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 204-208

they maimed or wounded, no deed of outrage or
violence have they wrought. They have done no
service of any other kind at all which might incur
arraignment or censure, but have made themselves
humble ministers of things excellent and profitable,
such as are held in honour in the sight of wisdom and
law and wise and law-abiding men.”’

XXXVIII. The blood is poured in a circle round the 205

altar because the circle is the most perfect of figures,
and in order that no part should be left destitute of
the vital oblation. For the blood may truly be called
a libation of the life-principle. So, then, he teaches
in this symbol that the mind, whole and complete,
should, as it moves with measured tread passing circle-
wise through every phase of word and intention
and deed, shew its willingness to do God’s service.*

The direction to wash the belly and the 206

feet is highly symbolical. Under the figure of the
belly he signifies the lust which it is well to clean
away, saturated as it is with stains and pollutions,
with wine-bibbing and sottishness, a mighty force
for ill, trained and drilled to work havoc in the life of

men. By the washing of the feet is meant that his 207

steps should be no longer on earth but tread the upper
air. For the soul of the lover of God does in truth
leap from earth to heaven and wing its way on high,
eager to take its place in the ranks and share the
ordered march of sun and-moon and the all-holy, all-
harmonious host of the other stars, marshalled and
led by the God Whose kingship none can dispute or
usurp, the kingship by which everything is justly

governed. The division of the animal 208

into its limbs indicates either that all things are one

Q17

PHILO

4 ἉἋἌ ὦ > e + A > 4 Ὁ e A ’
πάντα ἢ ὅτι ἐξ ἑνός TE καὶ εἰς ἕν, ὅπερ οἱ μὲν κόρον
καὶ χρησμοσύνην ἐκάλεσαν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐκπύρωσιν καὶ

’ A A

διακόσμησιν, ἐκπύρωσιν μὲν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ"
’ “ 3

δυναστείαν τῶν ἄλλων ἐπικρατήσαντος, δια-

, A
κόσμησιν δὲ κατὰ THY τῶν τεττάρων στοιχείων
9 ’

209 ἰσονομίαν, ἣν ἀντιδιδόασιν ἀλλήλοις. ἐμοὶ δὲ
9 ’ , A aA “A
εὐθυβολώτερον σκοπουμένῳ δοκεῖ τοῦτο δηλοῦσθαι"
e “- A A nv 9 9 A A Vv 93 ’ A
ἡ τιμῶσα ψυχὴ τὸ ὃν δι᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ ὃν ὀφείλει μὴ
we 2 9 , 5λλ.λ \ ? ee A
ἀλόγως μηδ᾽ ἀνεπιστημόνως ἀλλὰ σὺν ἐπιστήμῃ
~ “- A
καὶ λόγῳ τιμᾶν. ὁ δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος τομὴν
3 ’ A ,
ἐπιδέχεται καὶ διαίρεσιν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην τῶν θείων
4 A 3
δυνάμεων καὶ ἀρετῶν: ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἀγαθός τέ ἐστι
A A A “A Ud
Kal ποιητὴς Kal γεννητὴς τῶν ὅλων Kal προνοη-
& > +f /
τικὸς ὧν ἐγέννησε, σωτήρ τε Kal εὐεργέτης, μακα-
’ Α 4 ’ > 7+ Φ
ριότητος καὶ πάσης εὐδαιμονίας ἀνάπλεως" ὧν
399. 7 3 A
ἕκαστον καὶ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ ἰδίᾳ σεμνὸν Kal ἐπαινετὸν
καὶ μετὰ τῶν ὁμογενῶν ἐξεταζόμενον.
” A A A 3 VA Ld ~ >
[45] ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ταύτῃ. ὅταν βουληθῇς, ὦ
“A 4 ~
διάνοια, εὐχαριστῆσαι περὶ γενέσεως κόσμου θεῷ,
A A 4 A

Kal περὶ τοῦ ὅλου ποιοῦ THY εὐχαριστίαν καὶ περὶ

τῶν ὁλοσχερεστάτων αὐτοῦ μερῶν ὡς ἂν ζῴου

210

1 So R. The one other ms. which contained the sentence
had θεοῦ, which was the accepted reading before the discovery
of R, and it is so quoted by Arnim and others. Presumably
they understood it as expressing the view of Heracleitus that
the Deity was fire.

α The terms belong to the philosophy of Heracleitus, cf.
Leg. All. iii. 7 und note. Whatever Heracleitus meant by
them, Philo clearly here equates κόρος to ἐκπύρωσις and ypnopo-
σύνη to διακόσμησις. .

218

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 208-210

or that they come from and return to one, an alter-
nation which is called by some Fullness and Want,? by
others a General Conflagration and Reconstruction,
the Conflagration being the state when the supre-
macy of heat has prevailed over the rest, the Recon-
struction when the four elements, by concession to
each other, obtain equilibrium. My own reflections 209
lead me to think the following a more correct ex-
planation. The soul which honours the Existent
having the Existent Himself only in view, ought to
honour Him not irrationally nor ignorantly, but with
knowledge and reason. And when we reason about
Him we recognize in Him partition and division into
each of the Divine powers and excellences. For
God is good, He is the maker and begetter of the
universe and His providence is over what He has be-
gotten; He is a saviour and a benefactor, and has the
plenitude of all blessedness and all happiness. Each
of these attributes calls for veneration and praise,
both separately in itself and when ranked with its
congeners. So, too, it is with the rest.¢ 210
When, my mind, thou wishest to give thanks to God
for the creation of the universe, give it both for the
sum of things and for its principal parts, thinking of
them as the limbs of a living creature of the utmost

> For ἐκπύρωσις see Quis Rerum 228 and note. διακόσμη-
σις Should perhaps rather be translated by “ disposal’ or
“ distribution,”’ without the “re-”’. Since fire is the primary
substance (τὸ ἕν), creation itself was a διακόσμησις. So too
ἐκπύρωσις though regularly translated “‘ general conflagra-
tion” is rather “ resolution into fire.’’ See further App. p. 621.

¢ Or perhaps ταύτῃ =“ as follows,” as not unfrequently ; 566
note on De Mut. 129. By “the rest”? he means that the
universe and the man himself are to be “divided” in the
same way as God’s attributes have been in the previous
section.

219

211

212

PHILO

τελειοτάτου μελῶν, οἷον οὐρανοῦ λέγω Kat ἡλίου
καὶ σελήνης, πλανήτων καὶ ἀπλανῶν ἀστέρων, εἶτα
γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν, εἶτα πελαγῶν
καὶ ποταμῶν αὐθιγενῶν τε καὶ χειμάρρων καὶ τῶν
ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἔπειτα ἀέρος καὶ τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτὸν μετα-
βολῶν: χειμὼν γὰρ καὶ θέρος, ἔαρ τε καὶ μετόπω-
pov, at ἐτήσιοι καὶ βιωφελέσταται ὧραι, παθήματα
ἀέρος γεγόνασιν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν μετὰ σελήνην
τρεπομένου. κἂν ἄρα ποτὲ περὶ ἀνθρώπων εὐ-.
χαριστῇς, μὴ μόνον περὶ τοῦ γένους ἀλλὰ καὶ “περὶ
τῶν εἰδῶν καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτων μερῶν εὐχαρίστει,
ἀνδρῶν, γυναικῶν, “Ἑλλήνων, βαρβάρων, τῶν ἐν
ἠπείροις, τῶν τὰς νήσους εἰληχότων" κἂν περὶ ἑ ἑνὸς
ἀνδρός, τέμε τῷ λόγῳ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν, μὴ εἰς τὰ
λεπτότατα μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὰ συν-
εκτικώτατα, σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν τὸ πρῶτον, ἐξ ὧν
συνέστηκεν, εἶτα εἰς λόγον καὶ νοῦν καὶ αἴσθησιν'"
οὐ γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο ἀναξία θεοῦ ἀκοῆς καὶ ἡ ὑπὲρ
ἑκάστου τούτων εὐχαριστία καθ᾽ αὑτήν.

ΧΧΧΙΧ. ᾿Απόχρη τοσαῦτα περὶ τῆς ὁλοκαύτου
θυσίας λελέχθαι. τὴν δὲ τοῦ σωτηρίου λεγομένην
ἑξῆς ἐπισκεπτέον. ἐπὶ ταύτης ἀδιαφορεῖ, ἐάν τε
ἄρρεν ἢ τὸ ἱερεῖον ἐάν τε καὶ θῆλυ. σφαγέντος δὲ
τρία ταῦτα ὑπεξαιρεῖται τῷ βωμῷ, τὸ στέαρ καὶ
λοβὸς ἥπατος καὶ νεφροὶ. δύο: τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα τῷ κατα-

213 θύσαντι εὐωχία. διὰ τί δὲ τὰ μέρη ταῦτα τῶν

3 ’ A \ 3 ’ >

ἐντοσθιδίων καθιεροῦται, μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐπι-
σκεπτέον ἐκεῖνο μὴ παρελθόντας" διαλογιζόμενος ἐν
ἐμαυτῷ πολλάκις ταῦτα καὶ διερευνώμενος ἐπηπό-

— aR. ** peace-offering.” ' See Lev. iii. 1 ff.
©. πὶ ΒΩ, “the caul upon the liver.”
220

Need

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 210-213

perfection. Such parts are heaven and sun and
moon and the planets and fixed stars; then again
earth and the living creatures or plants thereon,
then the sea and rivers, whether spring-fed or
winter courses, and all they contain: then the air
and its phases, for winter and summer, spring and
autumn, those seasons which recur annually and
are so highly beneficial to our life, are different
conditions in the air which changes for the pre-
servation of sublunar things. And if thou givest 211
thanks for man, do not do so only for the whole
genus but for its species and most essential parts,
for men and women, for Greeks and barbarians,
for dwellers on the mainland and those whose
lot is cast in the islands. And if it is for a single
person, divide the thanksgiving as reason directs,
not into every tiny part of him down to the very
last, but into those of primary importance, first
of all into body and soul of which he is composed,
then into speech and mind and sense. For thanks
for each of these will by itself be not unworthy to
obtain audience with God.

XXXIX. Enough has now been said on the whole 212
burnt-offering. We must now consider in its turn
the preservation-offering.* In this case it is a matter
of indifference whether the victim is male or female.
When it has been slain these three, the fat, the lobe®
of the liver and the two kidneys, are set apart for the
altar, while the rest serves as a feast to be enjoyed
by the person’who has offered the sacrifice. But why 213
these parts of the inwards are consecrated must be
carefully considered, not neglecting the following
point. In the course of my reflections I have often
pondered deeply on this question also ; what could

221

214

PHILO

’ ’ὔ \ A ν \ \ \
ρησα, τί δήποτε λοβὸν μὲν ἥπατος Kal νεφροὺς καὶ
A ’
στέαρ ἀπαρχὰς τῶν καταθυομένων ζῴων ὑπεξείλετο
ὁ νόμος, οὔτε δὲ καρδίαν οὔτε ἐγκέφαλον, τοῦ
A “- 3
ἡγεμονικοῦ τῷ ἑτέρῳ τούτων ἐνδιαυτωμένου. τὸ ὃ
> A ’ A ” 3 7 ~ ’
αὐτὸ νομίζω καὶ ἄλλους οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν διανοίᾳ
μᾶλλον ἢ ὀφθαλμοῖς ταῖς ἱεραῖς. γραφαῖς ἐντυγ-
χανόντων ἐπιζητήσειν" ἐὰν μὲν οὖν “ἐπισκεψάμενοι
πιθανωτέραν αἰτίαν εὕρωσιν, ἑαυτούς τε καὶ ἡμᾶς
3 4 3 \ / \ 9 A eso e ~ .
ὠφελήσουσιν: εἰ δὲ μή, τὴν ἐπινοηθεῖσαν ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν
ἐπικρινάτωσαν, εἰ δόκιμος. ἔστι δὲ ἥδε: τὸ ἡγε-
A A ’
μονικὸν μόνον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀφροσύνην καὶ ἀδικίαν

καὶ δειλίαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας κακίας δέχεταί' τε καὶ

[944] χωρεῖ: τούτου δὲ οἶκος τὸ ἕτερον τῶν λεχθέντων
915 ἐστίν, | ἐγκέφαλος ἢ καρδία. ἐδικαίωσεν οὖν ὁ

216

ἱερὸς λόγος τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ βωμῷ, δι᾽ οὗ πάντων
ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ παρανομημάτων ἀπολύσεις γί-
νονται καὶ παντελεῖς ἀφέσεις, μὴ προσφέρειν

«

ἀγγεῖον, ἐν ᾧ ποτε φωλεύσας ὁ ὁ νοῦς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀδικίας
καὶ ἀσεβείας ἀνοδίαν ἐχώρησεν ἐκτραπόμενος τὴν
ἐπ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ καλοκἀγαθίαν ἄγουσαν ὁδόν" εὔηθες
γὰρ τὰς θυσίας ὑπόμνησιν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀλλὰ μὴ
λήθην αὐτῶν κατασκευάζειν. τοῦτ᾽ αἴτιον εἶναί μοι
οκεῖ τοῦ “μηδέτερον τῶν ἡγεμονίαν ἐχόντων,
ἐγκέφαλον ἢ καρδίαν, προσφέρεσθαι.

Ἃ δὲ “διείρηται, "λόγον ἔ Exel προσήκοντα" τὸ μὲν
στέαρ, ὅτι καὶ πιότατον καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων φυ-
λακτήριον---ἐπαμπίσχει γὰρ αὐτὰ καὶ πιαίνει καὶ
τῇ μαλακότητι τῆς ἐπαφῆς ὠφελεῖ---, ot δὲ νεφροὶ

1 mss. δύναται.

@ See the very similar passage in De Sac. 136, and the note
there on the question whether τὸ ἡγεμονικόν resided in the
brain or in the heart.

222

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 213-216

be the reason why the law, when setting apart the lobe
of the liver and the kidneys and the fat as a tribute
reserved from the animals sacrificed, did not include
either the heart or the brains, since the dominant
principle resides in one or other of them.* And I 214
expect the same question will present itself to not
a few of those who read the holy scriptures with their
understanding rather than with their eyes. If such
persons after examination find a more convincing
reason, they will benefit both themselves and me ;
if not I beg them to consider whether that which has
commended itself to my mind will stand the test. It
is as follows. The dominant principle is the only
part of us which admits and retains folly and injustice
and cowardice and the other vices, and the home of
this principle is one or other of the two just mentioned,
namely, the brain and the heart. The holy word, 215
therefore, thought good that the altar of God, by
which is given absolution and complete remission of
all sins and transgressions, should not be approached
by the container in which mind had its lair when it
came forth to tread the pathless wilds of injustice and
impiety, turning away from the road which leads to
virtue and noble conduct. For it would be foolish
to have the sacrifices working remembrance instead
of oblivion of sin. This seems to me the reason why
neither of the parts which hold the pre-eminence, the
brain or the heart, is brought to the altar.

As for the parts which are actually prescribed, 216
appropriate reasons can be given for the choice. The
fat is the richest part and acts as a protection to the
inwards, serving as a covering and a source of richness
to them and benefiting them by the softness of its
contact. The kidneys are chosen because of their

223

217

218

PHILO

, Ω
διὰ τοὺς παραστάτας καὶ τὰ γεννητικά, οἷς παρ-
οικοῦντες ἀγαθῶν τρόπον γειτόνων βοηθοῦσι καὶ
συμπράττουσιν, ὅπως ὁ τῆς φύσεως σπόρος εὐοδῇ,
“A \
μηδενὸς τῶν πλησίον ἐμποδίζοντος---αὐτοὶ μὲν yap
αἱμοειδεῖς εἰσι δεξαμεναί, οἷς ἡ τῶν περιττωμάτων
4
ὑγρὰ κάθαρσις ἀποκρίνεται, ot δὲ παραστάται
’ > @& 3 e 4 \ 9 ὦ
πλησίον, dv’ ὧν ἄρδεται ὁ omdpos—, λοβὸς δ᾽ ἥπατος
A aA 4 3.
τοῦ κυριωτάτου τῶν σπλάγχνων ἐστὶν ἀπαρχή, δι᾽.
Ὁ \ Ἁ 9 aA ’ \ 3
οὗ τὴν τροφὴν ἐξαιματοῦσθαι συμβέβηκε καὶ ἐπ-
4 “A ’ 4 \ “A 9 A
οχετευομένην TH. καρδίᾳ φέρεσθαι διὰ φλεβῶν εἰς τὴν
τοῦ ὅλου σώματος διαμονήν. στόμαχος μὲν γὰρ
’ὔ “A \ “A 4
παρακείμενος TH καταπόσει THY ὑπὸ τῶν ὀδόντων
A A S \
τμηθεῖσαν πρότερον καὶ λεανθεῖσαν αὖθις τροφὴν
e 4 \ 4 ’ , \
ὑποδέχεται Kal προκατεργάζεται κοιλίᾳ" κοιλία δὲ
4
παρὰ στομάχου λαμβάνουσα τὴν δευτέραν ὑπηρε-
’ 3 A δ᾿ ἃ e \ 4 > 9 4
σίαν ἐπιτελεῖ, πρὸς ἣν ὑπὸ φύσεως ἐτάχθη, χύλωσιν
3 4 “A A 3 \ \ 4 “ ’
ἀπεργαζομένη τῆς τροφῆς" αὐλοὶ δὲ δύο τῆς κοιλίας
A a 9 “--
σωληνοειδεῖς ἐκπεφύκασιν εἰς ἧπαρ ἐπαντλοῦντες
A ’ 9 9 A A 3 \
ταῖς διαπεφυκυίαις ev αὐτῷ de€apevais. ἔχει δὲ
διττὴν δύναμιν ἧπαρ, διακριτικήν τε καὶ τὴν πρὸς
ἐξαιμάτωσιν: ἡ μὲν οὖν διακριτικὴ πᾶν ὅσον ἀ-
τέραμνον καὶ δυσκατέργαστον εἰς τὸ παρακείμενον
χολῆς ἀγγεῖον ἀποκρίνει, ἡ δ᾽ ἑτέρα τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ
διηθημένον τῷ περὶ αὐτὴν φλογμῷ τρέπει μὲν εἰς
@ ’ a
αἷμα ζωτικώτατον, ἀναθλίβει δ᾽ εἰς καρδίαν, ad’ ἧς
e 9\ 2 A sy 3 4 \ \
ws ἐλέχθη ταῖς φλεψὶν ἐποχετευόμενον διὰ παντὸς
e A A , 4 > A 4
εἱλεῖται τοῦ σώματος γινόμενον αὐτῷ τροφή.
224:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 216-218

relation to the testicles and generative organs ;
situated beside them they give them neighbourly
assistance, and co-operate in promoting the easy
passage of nature’s seed unimpeded by any of the
adjacent parts. For the kidneys themselves are
blood-coloured receptacles in which the moist off-
scouring of the excrement is secreted, and contiguous
to them are the testicles which create the stream of
the semen. The lobe is a sample tribute from the
most important of the inwards, the liver, by which
the food is converted into blood and then being
sluiced into the heart, is conveyed through the veins
for the conservation of the whole body. For the 217
orifice of the stomach being adjacent to the gullet
receives the food which has been first bitten off by
the teeth and afterwards masticated, and by its action
prepares it for the stomach itself. This receives it
from the orifice and performs the second office to
which it has been appointed by nature, by turning
it into Juice. And from the stomach there are two
pipe-shaped channels extending to the liver and
draining the food into the receptacles which lie at
intervals therein. Now the liver has two properties : 218
it acts both as a sifter and a creator of blood. Asa
sifter it secretes all the hard and callous stuff into the
adjacent bile-vessel, while in its other capacity by
means of the heat which it contains it turns the pure
liquid which has been strained off into blood full of
life-giving powers, then presses this blood into the
heart, whence, as we have said, it is sluiced into the
veins, and coursing through the whole body becomes

VOL. VII Q 225

PHILO

219 πρόσεστι δὲ κἀκεῖνο τοῖς εἰρημένοις"
τὴν τοῦ ἥπατος φύσιν μετέωρον καὶ λειοτάτην
οὖσαν [καὶ] διὰ λειότητα φανοτάτου κατόπτρου
λόγον ἔχειν συμβέβηκεν, ἵν᾽ ἐπειδὰν τῶν ἡμερινῶν

ροντίδων ἀναχωρήσας ὁ νοῦς, ὕπνῳ μὲν παρ-
ειμένου τοῦ σώματος, μηδεμιᾶς δὲ τῶν αἰσθήσεων
[245] | ἱσταμένης ἐμποδών, ἀνακυκλεῖν αὑτὸν ἄρξηται καὶ
τὰ νοήματα καθαρῶς ἐφ᾽ αὑτοῦ σκοπεῖν, οἷα εἰς
κάτοπτρον ἀποβλέπων τὸ ἧπαρ ἕκαστα εἰλικρινῶς
καταθεᾶται τῶν νοητῶν καὶ περιβλεπόμενος ἐν
κύκλῳ τὰ εἴδωλα, μή τι πρόσεστιν αἶσχος, [ἵνα] τὸ
μὲν φύγῃ, τὸ δ᾽ ἐναντίον ἕληται; καὶ πάσαις ταῖς
αντασίαις εὐαρεστήσας προφητεύῃ διὰ τῶν ὀνεί-

ρων τὰ μέλλοντα.

220 XL. Δυσὶ δὲ μόναις ἡμέραις ἐπιτρέπει τὴν χρῆσιν
τῆς τοῦ σωτηρίου θυσίας ποιεῖσθαι μηδὲν εἰς τὴν
τρίτην ἀπολείποντας, πολλῶν χάριν" ἑνὸς μὲν ὅτι τὰ
τῆς ἱερᾶς τραπέζης πάντα καιρίως δεῖ προσφέρε-
σθαι σπουδὴν ποιουμένους, ὡς μὴ μεταβάλῃ μήκει
χρόνου: κρεῶν δὲ ἑώλων εὔσηπτος ἡ φύσις, κἂν

221 ἡδύσμασι παραρτυθῇ. ἑτέρου δ᾽ ὅτι τὰς θυσίας

¢ This section is based on Plato, Timaeus 71 (see Archer-
Hind’s translation), and certainly reproduces the main idea
of that curious passage, that the liver acts as a mirror ‘‘ which
receives outlines of the thoughts from the brain and exhibits
reflections from them,’’ sometimes of a bitter nature, while
sometimes ‘“‘the part of the soul settled about the liver is
enabled to secure a sober amusement at night, enjoying
divination during sleep in recompense for its deprivation of
intelligence and wisdom.” Whether Philo has otherwise
understood Plato correctly I do not presume to say.

ὃ 1 do not understand what Philo means by μετέωρος (“‘ high
up’’). Plato’s description of the liver is that God set it in the

dwelling-place of the lusting (ἐπιθυμητικόν) part of the soul
and made it “‘ dense and smooth and bright, with a share of

226

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 219-221

its sustenance. “There is another point to 219
be added to these statements. The liver has been
made so as to lie high ® and be exceedingly smooth,
and in virtue of its smoothness it plays the part of a
mirror of the utmost brightness. In consequence
when the mind withdrawing from its daytime cares,
with the. body paralyzed in sleep and the obstruction
of every sense removed, begins to turn itself about and
concentrate upon the pure observation of its concepts,
it looks into the liver as into a mirror where it gains
a lucid view of all that mind can perceive and, while
its gaze travels round the images to see whether they
contain any ugly defect, it eschews all such and selects
their opposites, and so, well satisfied® with all the
visions presented to it, prophesies future events
through the medium of dreams.

XL. 7 νο days only are allowed for the use of the 220
preservation-offering as food, and nothing is to be left
over till the third day. This for several reasons.
One is, that al] the meats of the sacred table must be
eaten without undue delay, care being taken that
they should not deteriorate through lapse of time.

It is the nature of stale flesh to decay rapidly, even
though seasoned with spices as preservatives. Another 221

bitterness.’’ Some stress is laid on its position, but there is
nothing corresponding to peréwpos. Can the word mean
here “‘ with changing moods,”’ “‘ temperamental,” and refer
i the mixture of sweetness and bitterness ascribed to it by

ato?

¢ So Mangey and Heinemann for εὐαρεστήσας. This use
of the verb, however, seems later. Its common meaning is
‘‘ well-pleasing to,’ and so apparently always elsewhere in
Philo (edapeornréov in De Praem. 34 may be the verbal of
εὐαρεστοῦμαι). This regular meaning is perhaps not altogether
impossible here, ‘‘ it has become a satisfactory medium for all
the (good) visions.” 4 See Lev. xix. 5, 6.

227

222

228

PHILO

ἀταμιεύτους εἶναι προσήκει Kal πᾶσιν εἰς μέσον
προκεῖσθαι τοῖς δεομένοις: εἰσὶ γὰρ οὐκέτι τοῦ
τεθυκότος, ἀλλ᾽ ᾧ τέθυται τὸ ἱερεῖον, ὃς εὐεργέτης
καὶ φιλόδωρος ὧν κοινωνὸν ἀπέφηνε τοῦ βωμοῦ. καὶ
ὁμοτράπεζον τὸ συμπόσιον τῶν τὴν θυσίαν ἐπι-
τελούντων, οἷς παραγγέλλει μὴ νομίζειν ἑστιᾶν"
ἐπίτροποι γὰρ εὐωχίας εἰσίν, οὐχ ἑστιάτορες, ὁ δ᾽
ἑστιάτωρ ἐστὶν οὗ συμβέβηκεν εἶναι καὶ τὴν παρα-
σκευήν, ἣν οὐ θέμις ἀποκρύπτειν φειδωλίαν, ἀν-
ελεύθερον κακίαν, φιλανθρωπίας, ἀρετῆς εὐγενοῦς,"
προκρίνοντας. τελευταίου δ᾽ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ σωτηρίου
θυσίαν ὑπὲρ δυεῖν προσάγεσθαι συμβέβηκε, ψυχῆς
τε καὶ σώματος, ὧν ἑκατέρῳ μίαν ἡμέραν ἀπένειμεν
εἰς εὐωχίαν τῶν κρεῶν: ἥρμοττε γὰρ ἰσάριθμον
χρόνον ὁρισθῆναι τοῖς πεφυκόσι σῴζεσθαι τῶν ἐν
ἡμῖν, ὡς τῇ μὲν προτεραίᾳ λαμβάνειν ἅμα τῇ
βρώσει τῆς ψυχικῆς σωτηρίας ὑπόμνησιν, τῇ δ᾽
ὑστεραίᾳ τῆς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ὑγείας. ἐπεὶ δὲ τρίτον
οὐδὲν ἢ ἦν ὃ κυρίως πέφυκε σωτηρίαν ἐνδέχεσθαι, τὴν
εἰς τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν χρῆσιν ἀνὰ κράτος ἀπηγό-
ρευσε προστάξας, εἰ καὶ τύχοι τι κατ᾽ ἄγνοιαν ἢ
λήθην ἀπολειφθέν, εὐθὺς ἀναλίσκεσθαι πυρί. τὸν
δὲ γευσάμενον αὐτὸ μόνον ἔνοχον ἀποφαίνει καὶ
φησιν αὐτῷ' τεθυκέναι νομίζων, ὦ καταγέλαστε, οὐ
τέθυκας: οὐ προσηκάμην' ἀθύτων, ἀνιέρων, βε-

1 προσηκάμην followed by a genitive is irregular, and Cohn
proposes some insertion, e.g. θοίνην.

@ See Lev. xix. 7, 8. Philo’s close following of the text
should be noticed, LXX ἐὰν δὲ βρώσει βρωθῇ... ἄθυτόν (E. V.
“abomination ’ ἐστιν, ov δεχθήσεται. His γευσάμενον ; “αὐτὸ
μόνον interprets βρώσει βρωθῇ (“be eaten at all’’), though else-

228

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 221-223

reason is, that the sacrificial meals should not be
hoarded, but be free and open to all who have need,
for they are now the property not of him by whom
but of Him to Whom the victim has been sacrificed,
He the benefactor, the bountiful, Who has made the
convivial company of those who carry out the sacrifices
partners of the altar whose board they share. And
He bids them not think of themselves as the enter-
tainers, for they are the stewards of the good cheer,
not the hosts. The Host is He to Whom the material
provided for the feast has come to belong, and this
must not be stowed away out of sight, and niggardli-
ness, the vice of the slave, preferred to kindliness, the
virtue of gentle birth. The final reason is, that the 222
preservation-offering is in fact made in behalf of two,
namely soul and body, to each of which he assigned
one day for feasting on the flesh. For it was meet
that an equal space of time should be appointed for
those elements of our nature which are capable of
being preserved, so that on the first day as we eat we
obtain a reminder of the soul’s preservation, on the
morrow of the body’s good health. And since there 223
is no third thing which, properly speaking, could be
the subject of preservation, he strictly forbade the
use of the oblation as food on the third day, and
commanded that if anything was left over through
ignorance or inadvertence, it should immediately be
consumed by fire. * Even him who had tasted it and
nothing more he declares to be guilty. ‘‘ Poor fool,”’
he says to him, “ thou thinkest to have sacrificed,
though thou hast not done so. Sacrilegious, unholy,
profane, impure, is the meat which thou hast dressed.

where he does not seem to understand the Hebrew idiom
thus rendered in Greek.

229

224

[946]

225

226

PHILO

/ 9 ’ a Ψ ὡς > ,
βήλων, ἀκαθάρτων, ὧν ἥψηκας κρεῶν, ὦ γαστρί-
μαργε, θυσιῶν οὐδ᾽ ὄναρ ἐπῃσθημένος.

XLI. Τῆς δὲ τοῦ σωτηρίου θυσίας ἐν εἴδει περι-

4 ~
λαμβάνεται ἡ λεγομένη τῆς αἰνέσεως, ἥτις λόγον
»ὔ /
ἔχει τοιόνδε’ ὃ μηδενὶ TO παράπαν ἀβουλήτῳ
περιπεσών, μήτε κατὰ σῶμα μήτε κατὰ τὰ ἐκτός,
> 3 3 / \ 3 “-- ’ , ; 3
ἀλλ᾽ ἀπολέμῳ καὶ εἰρηνικῷ βίῳ χρώμενος ἐν
/
εὐπαθείαις Te Kal εὐτυχίαις ἐξεταζόμενος, ἀπήμων

\ , A

Kal ἄπταιστος ὧν Kal TO μακρὸν τοῦ βίου πέλαγος
4 3

εὐθύνων ἐν εὐδίᾳ καὶ γαλήνῃ πραγμάτων, ἐπι-
, > AN /

mveovons ἀεὶ κατ᾽ οἰάκων εὐπραγίας, | ἀναγκαίως

3 , A

ὀφείλει τὸν κυβερνήτην θεὸν Kal ἄνοσον μὲν σωτη-

, > / 9 3 / \ 4 : > ~

ρίαν ἀζημίους δ᾽ ὠφελείας καὶ συνόλως ἀμιγῆ
~ ,
κακῶν τὰ ἀγαθὰ δωρούμενον ὕμνοις τε καὶ εὐδαι-
A \ A \ A
μονισμοῖς καὶ εὐχαῖς θυσίαις τε καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις

3 ,ὔ 9 “A > / Δ Α Ul > 4
εὐχαριστίαις εὐαγῶς ἀμείβεσθαι" ἃ δὴ πάντα ἀθρόα

4 a“ ” A 9 lA ” ’
συλλήβδην ἕν ὄνομα τὸ αἰνέσεως ἔλαχε. ταύτην

\ “A
τὴν θυσίαν οὐχ ὥσπερ THY προτέραν TOD σωτηρίου

\ oe / a Q? Vv
δυσὶν ἡμέρας ἀναλίσκεσθαι προστάττει, μιᾷ δ᾽ αὐτὸ
e
μόνον, ἵν᾽ οἱ ἐπιτυχόντες ἑτοίμων καὶ προχείρων
“A “A \
εὐεργεσιῶν ἑτοίμην Kal ἀνυπέρθετον ποιῶνται τὴν
μετάδοσιν.
“A A 9 ~ 4

XLII. Ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον. τὴν δὲ τρίτην
ἑξῆς ἐπισκεπτέον, ἣ καλεῖται περὶ ἁμαρτίας. αὕτη
τέτμηται πολλαχῇ, κἀν τοῖς προσώποις κἀν τοῖς

~ e
τῶν ἱερείων εἴδεσι, προσώποις μὲν ἀρχιερέως Kal

α See Lev. vii. 2 f. (E.V. 12 f.). It is embraced in the
preservation-offering because it is called θυσία αἰνέσεως σωτηρίου
(£.V. ‘the sacrifice of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving’).

230

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 223-226

I accept it not, base glutton, who even in thy dreams
hast caught no glimpse of what sacrifice means.’

XLI. Under the head of the pees On once ae 224
is embraced what is called the praise-offering.* The
principle of this is as follows. He who has never at
all met with any untoward happening, either of soul
or body or things external, who lives a life of peace
undisturbed by war, placed in an environment of
every comfort and good fortune, free from disaster
and cause of stumbling, sailing in straight course over
the long sea of life amid the sunshine and calm of
happy circumstances, with the breeze of prosperity
ever behind the helm, has as his bounden duty to
requite God his pilot, Who gives him safety untouched
by disease, benefits carrying no penalty and in general
good unmixed with evil—requite Him, I say, with
hymns and benedictions and prayers and sacrifices
and the other expressions of gratitude as religion
demands. All these collected and summed up have
obtained the single name of praise. ὃ For the con- 225
sumption of this sacrifice one day only is allowed,
not two as in the former case of the preservation-
offering, that those into whose hands benefits have
fallen so readily should make repayment with readi-
ness and without delay.

XLII. So much for these. We must next examine 226
the third kind of sacrifice which bears the name of
sin-offering. 9 Here we have several divisions, both
according to the persons concerned and the kinds of
victims. As to persons, the high priest is distin-

> See Lev. vii. 5 (E.V. 15).

¢ See Lev. iv. for the high priest (E.V. “ anointed priest ’’),
». 3; for the nation, v. 18: for the ruler, v. 22; for the
commoner, v. 27.

231

227

228

229

230

PHILO

τοῦ σύμπαντος ἔθνους καὶ ἄρχοντος ἐν μέρει καὶ
ἰδιώτου, ἱερείοις δὲ μόσχου καὶ χιμάρου καὶ χι-
μαίρας ἢ ἀμνάδος. διακέκριται δὲ καὶ μάλιστ᾽ ἦν
ἀναγκαῖον διακεκρίσθαι τά θ᾽ ἑκούσια καὶ ἀκούσια,
τροπὰς λαμβανόντων τὰς πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον τῶν
δοξάντων ἁμαρτεῖν καὶ κακιζόντων μὲν αὑτοὺς ἐφ᾽
οἷς ἐπλημμέλησαν, μεθορμιζομένων δὲ «πρὸς “ζωὴν
ἀνυπαίτιον. τὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ἁμαρτήματα
καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους ἰσοτίμῳ καθαίρεται ζῴῳ--μόσχον
γὰρ ἀνάγεσθαι περὶ ἑκατέρου προστέτακται--, τὰ δὲ
τοῦ ἄρχοντος ἐλάττονι μέν, ἄρρενι δὲ καὶ τούτῳ---
χίμαρος γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἱερεῖον---, τὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδιώτου
καταδεεστέρῳ τὸ εἶδος---θΟῆλυ γὰρ ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἄρρεν
θῦμα, χίμαιρα," καταθύεται--. ἔδει γὰρ ἰδιώτου μὲν
πλέον ἄρχοντα φέρεσθαι κἀν ταῖς ἱερουργίαις, ἄρ-
χοντος δὲ τὸ ἔθνος, ἐπεὶ τὸ ὅλον τοῦ “μέρους ἀεὶ
κρεῖττον εἶναι δεῖ, τὸν δ᾽ ἀρχιερέα τῷ ἔθνει τῆς
αὐτῆς ἠξιῶσθαι προνομίας ἐν τῷ καθαίρεσθαι καὶ
παρὰ τῆς ἵλεω τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμεως ἀμνηστίαν
ἀδικημάτων αἰτεῖσθαι" τὸ δ᾽ ἰσότιμον οὐ δι᾿ αὑτόν,
ὡς ἔοικε, καρποῦται μᾶλλον ἢ διότι τοῦ ἔθνους
ὑπηρέτης ἐστὶ τὰς κοινὰς ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ποιούμενος
εὐχαριστίας ἐν ταῖς ἱερωτάταις εὐχαῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς
εὐαγεστάταις θυσίαις. σεμνὴ δὲ καὶ θαυμάσιος καὶ
ἡ περὶ ταῦτα διάταξις" “᾿ ἐὰν ᾿᾿ φησίν “᾿ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς
ἄκων ἁμάρτῃ, καὶ προστίθησιν “᾿ ὥστε τὸν λαὸν

1 Some ss. θῦμα only, the others χίμαιρα only.

¢ Philo finds the term ἄρχων in the Lxx, and does not
attempt to explain it. For ἐν μέρει see on κατὰ μέρος, § 208.
Possibly it may mean here, “‘ ruler over some particular part,”
i.e. of the whole nation.

232

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 226-230

guished from the whole nation and the rulers® as a
class from the men of the common people. As to
victims, they may be a male calf, a he-goat, a she-
goat or ewe-lamb. Another distinction made is one 227
which is most essential between voluntary and in-
voluntary sins. For those who have acknowledged
their sin are changing their way for the better, and
while they reproach themselves for their errors are
seeking a blameless life as their new goal. The sins, 228
then, of the high priest and those of the whole nation
are purged with an animal of the same value ; in both
cases it is directed that a male calf should be brought.
For the sins of the ruler one of less value is ordered,
though this too is a male, namely a he-goat ; for the
sins of the commoner, one still more inferior in kind,
a female offering instead of a male, that is, a she-goat.
For it was proper that in matters of sacrifice the ruler 229
should fare better than the commoner and the nation
than the ruler, since the whole should always be
superior to the part ; also that the high priest should
be adjudged the same precedence as the nation in
their purification and supplication for forgiveness of
wrongdoings from the merciful power of God. But
the equality of honour which the high priest enjoys
is evidently not so much on his own account as because
he is the servant of the nation also, giving thanks in
common for all through the holiest of prayers and
the purest of sacrifices. Deeply and wonderfully 230
impressive is the form of command in this matter.
δ “ΤΡ the high priest,’ it says, ‘‘ sins involuntarily,”’
and then adds, “ so that the people sin,’ words which
> See Lev. iv. 3. A.V. “according to the sin of the people.”’
R.V. “so as to bring guilt on the people.’”” The txx has not
got ἄκων in this verse, but Philo infers it from ἀκουσίως (R.V.
“unwittingly ”’)inv. 2.
233

PHILO

dpaprety,” μόνον οὐκ ἀντικρυς ἀναδιδάσκων, ὅτι ὁ
πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ μὴ ψευδώνυμος ἀ-
μέτοχος ἁμαρτημάτων ἐστίν, εἰ δ᾽ ὀλισθήσοι. ποτέ,
πείσεται τοῦτο οὐ δι᾽ αὑτόν, ἀλλὰ διὰ κοινὸν τοῦ
ἔθνους σφάλμα: τὸ δὲ σφάλμα οὐκ ἀνίατον, ἀλλὰ
231 ῥᾳδίως τὴν θεραπείαν ἐνδεχόμενον. ὅταν οὖν
σφαγιασθῇ ὁ μόσχος, κελεύει τοῦ αἵματος ἐπιρ-
ραίνειν ἑπτάκις τῷ δακτύλῳ ἀντικρὺ τοῦ πρὸς τοῖς
ἀδύτοις καταπετάσματος, ἐσωτέρω τοῦ προτέρου,
καθ᾽ ὃν τόπον ἵδρυται τὰ ἱερώτατα σκεύη, κἄπειτα
[247] (τὰΣ τοῦ | θυμιατηρίου τέτταρα κέρατα--τετρά-
γωνον γάρ ἐστι--χρίειν καὶ ἐπαλείφειν, τὸ δ᾽ ἄλλο
αἷμα προσχεῖν παρὰ τῇ βάσει τοῦ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ
232 βωμοῦ: ἐφ᾽ ὃν ἀναφέρειν τρία διείρηται, στέαρ καὶ
λοβὸν ἥπατος καὶ διττοὺς νεφρούς, κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ
τοῦ σωτηρίου διάταξιν, δορὰν δὲ καὶ κρέα καὶ
σύμπαν ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἄχρι ποδῶν τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα τοῦ
μόσχου μετὰ τῶν ἐντοσθιδίων προφέρειν' ἔξω καὶ
κατακαίειν ἐν χωρίῳ καθαρῷ, ἔνθα τὴν ἱερὰν ἀπὸ
τοῦ βωμοῦ τέφραν ἐκκομίζεσθαι συμβέβηκε. τὰ δ᾽
αὐτὰ νομοθετεῖ καὶ περὶ παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους ἅμαρ-
233 τόντος. εἰ δέ τις ἄρχων πλημμελήσειε, χιμάρῳ
ποιεῖται τὴν κάθαρσιν, ὡς εἶπον, ἐὰν δὲ ἰδιώτης,
χιμαίρᾳ 7) ἀμνάδι: τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἄρρεν, τῷ δ᾽ ἰδιώτῃ
θῆλυ ζῷον ἀπένειμε, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα διαταξάμενος ἐπ᾽
ἀμφοῖν ὅμοια, χρίσαι τὰ κέρατα τοῦ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ
βωμοῦ τῷ αἵματι, στέαρ καὶ λοβὸν ἥπατος καὶ
διττοὺς νεφροὺς ἀνενεγκεῖν, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα τοῖς ἱερεῦσι
1 MSS. προσφέρειν.

@ See Lev. iv. 6-12.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 230-233

almost amount to a plain statement from which we
may learn that the true high priest who is not
falsely so-called is immune from sin, and if ever he
slips, it will be something imposed on him not because
of what he does himself, but because of some lapse
common to the nation. And that lapse is not in-
curable but admits easily of healing treatment. “So 231
when the calf has been slaughtered he bids the priest
to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven
times over against the veil at the inner shrine, beyond
the first veil, at the place where the most sacred
chattels have been set, and then anoint and smear
the four horns of the altar of incense, corresponding
to its four sides, and pour the rest of the blood at the
foot of the altar in the open air. To this altar he 232
is commanded to bring three things, the fat and the
lobe of the liver and the two kidneys, as in the ordin-
ance of the preservation-offering. But the skin and
the flesh and all the rest of the body of the calf from
head to foot, with the inwards, are to be carried out-
side and burnt in a clear and open space? whither the
holy ashes from the altar also are conveyed. The
same rules are laid down by law in the case where the
sin lies with the whole nation. But if a trespass is 233
committed by a ruler, he purges himself with a he-
goat, as I have said; if by one of the common people,
with a she-goat or a ewe-lamb. For he assigned the
male animal to the ruler, the female to the commoner,
while the other regulations which he made are similar
for both persons, namely, that the horns of the open-
air altar should be anointed with the blood, the fat
and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys offered
at the altar and the rest given to the priests to eat.

ὃ Or as ΕἸ. “ἃ clean place.” See on § 268.
235

234

235

236

237

PHILO

παρασχεῖν ἐδωδήν. XLIII.. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ἁμαρτη-
μάτων τὰ μὲν εἰς ἀνθρώπους, τὰ δ᾽ εἰς ἱερὰ καὶ
ἅγια δρᾶται, περὶ μὲν τῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους γινο-
μένων ἀκουσίως διείλεκται, τὴν δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς
κάθαρσιν' ἱλάσκεσθαι κριῷ "νομοθετεῖ, πρότερον
ἀποτίσαντας ἐκεῖνο περὶ ὃ γέγονεν ἡ πλημμέλεια,
τὸ πέμπτον “προσεπιτιθέντας τῆς ἀξίας τιμῆς.
Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια νομοθετήσας ἐπὶ τοῖς
ἀκουσίοις καὶ περὶ τῶν ἑκουσίων ἑξῆς διατάττεται.
ἐάν τις, φησί, ψεύσηται περὶ κοινωνίας ἢ περὶ
παρακαταθήκης ἢ ἁρπαγῆς ἢ εὑρέσεως ὧν ἀπ-
ὦλεσεν ἑ ἕτερος καὶ ὑπονοηθείς, ὅρκου προταθέντος,
ὀμόσῃ καὶ δόξας ἐκπεφευγέναι τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν κατ-
ηγόρων ἔλεγχον αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ γένηται κατήγορος,
ἔνδον ὑ ὑπὸ τοῦ συνειδότος ἐλεγχθείς, καὶ κακίσῃ μὲν
ἑαυτὸν ὧν ἠρνήσατο καὶ ἐπιώρκησεν, ὁμολογῶν ὃ
ἄντικρυς τὸ πραχθὲν ἀδίκημα συγγνώμην αἰτῆται,
κελεύει τῷ τοιούτῳ παρέχειν ἀμνηστίαν, ἐπαληθεύ-
σαντι τὴν μετάνοιαν οὐχ ὑποσχέσει ἀλλ᾽ ἔργοις,
ἀποδόσει τῆς παρακαταθήκης καὶ ὧν ἥρπασεν ἢ
εὗρεν ἢ συνόλως ἐσφετερίσατο τοῦ πλησίον, προσ-
αποτίσας" καὶ τὸ ἐπίπεμπτον εἰς παρηγορίαν τοῦ
πλημμεληθέντος. ὅταν δὲ ἱλάσηται τὸν ἠδικημένον
πρότερον, ἴτω, φησί, μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν
αἰτησόμενος ὧν ἐξήμαρτεν ἄφεσιν, ἐπαγόμενος

1 A very strange expression, unless κάθαρσιν can be regarded
as a sort of cognate accusative. Cohn suggests ἁμαρτίαν.
Possibly ἀκαθαρσίαν.

2 This ungrammatical nominative is either a slip or should
be corrected to -σαντι.

@ See Lev. v. 15, 16.
236

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 234-237

XLII. *But since sins are sometimes committed 234
against men, sometimes against things sacred and
holy, besides the regulations already stated for dealing
with involuntary offences against men, he lays down
that in the case of the holy things the purificatory pro-
pitiation should be made with a ram, the offenders
having first made full compensation for the subject

of the trespass with the addition of a fifth part of its
proper value.

These and similar regulations for involuntary 235
offences are followed by his ordinances for such as
are voluntary.’ “‘If,”’ he says, “ἃ man lies about a
partnership or a deposit or a robbery or as to finding
the lost property of someone else, and, being sus-
pected and put upon his oath, swears to the falsehood
—if then after having apparently escaped conviction
by his accusers he becomes, convicted inwardly by
his conscience, his own accuser, reproaches himself
for his disavowals and perjuries, makes a plain con-
fession of the wrong he has committed and asks for
pardon—then the lawgiver orders that forgiveness be 236
extended to such a person on condition that he verifies
his repentance not by a mere promise but by his
actions, by restoring the deposit or the property which
he has seized or found or in any way usurped from his
neighbour, and further has paid an additional fifth
as a solatium for the offence. And when he has thus 237
propitiated the injured person he must follow it up,
says the lawgiver, by proceeding to the temple to
ask for remission of his sins, taking with him as his

> See Lev. vi. 2-7. Where, however, it is not suggested
that the offender has made a voluntary confession, Philo as
also Josephus, Ant. iii. 232, and indeed modern com-
mentators, infers it from the probability that the convicted
criminal would not get off so lightly.

237

PHILO

παράκλητον οὐ μεμπτὸν τὸν κατὰ ψυχὴν ἔλεγχον,
ὃς ἀνιάτου συμφορᾶς αὐτὸν ἐρρύσατο τὴν θανα-
τοῦσαν" νόσον ἀνεὶς καὶ πρὸς ὑγείαν παντελῆ μετα-
9398 βαλών. κριὸν δ᾽ εἶναι' καὶ τούτῳ διείρηται σφάγιον,
[248] καθὰ | καὶ τῷ πρὸς τὰ ἅγια πλημμελήσαντι: τὸ γὰρ
ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀκούσιον ἁμάρτημα ἰσότιμον ἀπέφηνε
τῷ περὶ. τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἑκουσίῳ, εἰ μὴ ἄρα. καὶ τοῦτ
ἐστί τι ἅγιον, ἐπειδὴ προσγέγονεν ὅ ὅρκος, ὃν οὐκ ἐφ᾽
ὑγιεῖ γενόμενον ἐπηνωρθώσατο τροπῇ τῇ πρὸς τὸ
βέλτιον.
2389 [Ι]αρατηρητέον δ᾽ ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἐπιφερόμενα τῷ
ὠμῷ ἐκ τοῦ περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἱερείου ταὐτά ἐστιν ἃ
καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ σωτηρίου θυσίας, λοβὸς ἥπατος καὶ
στέαρ καὶ νεφροί: τρόπον γάρ τινα καὶ ὁ μετανοῶν
σῴζεται, τὴν χαλεπωτέραν τῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι
240 παθῶν νόσον ψυχῆς ἐκτρεπόμενος. τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα
μέρη τοῦ ζῴου πρὸς ἐδωδὴν ἀπονέμεται δια-
ἐρόντως. ἐν τρισὶ δ' ἡ διαφορά' τόπῳ, χρόνῳ, τοῖς
λαμβάνουσι" τόπος μὲν οὖν τὸ ἱερόν, χρόνος δὲ a ἀντὶ
δυεῖν ἡμερῶν μία, οἱ δὲ μεταλαμβάνοντες ἱερεῖς,
241 ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὧν ἐστιν ἡ θυσία, καὶ ἱερέων ἄρσενες. ἔξω
μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐᾷ τοῦ ἱεροῦ προφέρειν βουλόμενος, εἴ
τι τῷ μετανοοῦντι πρότερον ἡμάρτηται, μὴ περί-
φημον εἶναι βασκάνων καὶ φιλαπεχθημόνων γνώμαις
ἀγνώμοσι καὶ στόμασιν ἀχαλίνοις, ἐπ᾽ ὀνείδει καὶ

1 So Cohn for ms. θανατῶσαν or θανατώσασαν. See note
on Spec. τ: iii. 102 (App.).

5 mss.: so Cohn: κριὸν δεῖν R (“ut videtur ” adds Cohn),
κριὸν ἀνα ανεῖϊν Ε΄: κριὸν δ᾽ ἄγειν κελεύει, καὶ τοῦτο A.H.

@ See Lev. vi. 25, 26, 29. But there is no order there that
it should be eaten in one day. (So also Jos. Ant. iii. 232
αὐθημερόν.)

238

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 237-241

irreproachable advocate the soul-felt conviction which
has saved him from a fatal disaster, allayed a deadly
disease, and brought him round to complete health.

For him, too, the sacrifice prescribed is a ram, as also 238

for the offender in sacred matters. Tor the lawgiver
rated the involuntary sin in the sacred sphere as equal
to voluntary sin in the human, though indeed this
last also is perhaps a desecration, since it is supple-
mented by an oath sworn under dishonest conditions,
though rectified by the man’s conversion to the better
course.

It must be noticed, however, that while the parts
of the sin-offering laid upon the altar are the same
as in the case of the preservation-offering, namely the
lobe of the liver, the fat and the kidneys—a natural
arrangement because the penitent also is preserved
or saved by escape from the soul-sickness which is

239

more grievous than any which affects the body—the 240

conditions under which the other parts of the animal
are appointed to serve for food are different. The
difference is threefold, in the place, in the time and
in the recipients.* The place is the temple, the time
one day instead of two, and the participants are priests,
not those who offer the sacrifices : also they are male

priests.2 The prohibition against carrying the flesh 241

outside the temple is due to his wish that any sin
which the penitent has previously committed should
not be made notorious through the ill-judged judge-
ments and unbridled tongues of malicious and acri-
monious persons, and blazed abroad as a subject for

ὑ This seems to me to indicate that Philo rightly or wrongly
takes ‘‘ every male among the priests,’ to mean that apart
from this prohibition the women of the priestly clan would be
entitled to eat it. In § 110 he has called them “‘ priestesses.”

239

PHILO

διαβολαῖς ἐκδεδομένον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐντὸς ὅρων ἱερῶν, ἐν
242 οἷς καὶ ἡ κάθαρσις γέγονεν, εἶναι. XLIV. τοῖς δ᾽
ἱερεῦσιν εὐωχεῖσθαι τὴν θυσίαν κελεύει διὰ πολλά:
πρῶτον' μὲν ἵνα τιμήσῃ τοὺς τεθυκότας, ἡ γὰρ τῶν
ἐστιωμένων ἀξίωσις ἐπικοσμεῖ τοὺς ἑστιάτορας:"
δεύτερον δὲ ἵνα βεβαιότατα πιστεύσωσιν, ὅτι οἷς
ἁμαρτημάτων εἰσέρχεται μεταμέλεια ἵλεω τὸν θεὸν
ἔχουσιν: οὐ γὰρ ἂν τοὺς προσπόλους αὐτοῦ καὶ
θεράποντας ἐπὶ μετουσίαν τῆς τοιαύτης τραπέζης
ἐκάλεσεν, εἰ μὴ παντελὴς ἐγεγένητο ἀμνηστία"
τρίτον δ᾽ ὅτι λειτουργεῖν οὐδενὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἔξεστιν,
ὃς av μὴ ὁλόκληρος ἢ: καὶ γὰρ τῷ βραχυτάτῳ
948 μώμῳ σκορακίζεται. παρηγορεῖ δὴ τοὺς μηκέτι
τὴν τῶν ἀδικημάτων ὁδὸν ἰόντας ὡς ἱερατικοῦ
γένους ἕνεκα προαιρέσεως καθαρᾶς μεταλαχόντας
καὶ πρὸς ἱερέων ἰσοτιμίαν ἐπαχθέντας. ὅθεν καὶ
μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τὸ περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἱερεῖον ἀναλίσκεται, ὡς
δέον ὑπερτίθεσθαι μὲν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν μέλλοντας ἀεὶ
πρὸς αὐτὸ καὶ βραδύνοντας, πρὸς δὲ τὸ κατορθοῦν
244 ἐπεσπευσμένῳ τάχει χρῆσθαι. τὰ δ᾽
ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως 7 τοῦ ἔθνους ἕνεκα πλημ-
μελείας σφαγιαζόμενα πρὸς μὲν ἐδωδὴν οὐ σκευά-
ζεται, κατακαίεται δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς τέφρας, ὡς
ἐλέχθη: κρείττων γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀρχιερέως ἢ τοῦ
ἔθνους ἐστίν, ὃς ἁμαρτησάντων γενήσεται παρ-
945 αιτητήῆς. εἰκότως οὖν ἀναλίσκεται τὰ κρέα πυρί,
1 MSS. πρότερον.

* The point presumably is that the exclusion of the priests
who suffer from defects and therefore cannot have taken part

240

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 241-245

contumelious and censorious talk, but be confined
within the sacred precincts which have also been the
scene of the purification. XLIV. The command that 242
the sacrifice should serve as a feast for the priests is
due to several reasons. First, to do honour to the
givers of the sacrifice, for the dignity of the guests re-
flects glory on their entertainers ; secondly, to secure
them firmly in the belief that the graciousness of God
extends to those who feel remorse for their sin. For
He would never have called His servitors and ministers

to share the hospitality of such a table if full pardon
had not been given. Thirdly, because none of the
priests is permitted to perform the rites if he is not
wholly sound, for the slightest blemish causes him to

be thrust from office.* In fact he encourages those 243
who no longer tread the path of wrongdoing with the
thought that their resolution to purify themselves
has given them a place in the sacerdotal caste and
advanced them to equal honour with the priest. For

a similar reason the flesh of the sin-offering is con-
sumed in a single day, showing that in sin we should
procrastinate and be slow and dilatory in approaching

it, but when the achievement of righteousness is our
goal, act with speed and promptitude.

The victims immolated in behalf of the high priest 244
or the nation as atonement for trespassing are not
dressed to serve as food but are consumed by fire on
the sacred ashes, as I have said. °For there is no one
superior to the high priest or the nation to act as
intercessor for the sinners. It is natural therefore 945
that the flesh should be consumed by fire in imitation

in the sacrifice enhances the honour of the providers of the
feast. But see App. p. 621.
> 4) 6. in § 232.
VOL. VII R 241

PHILO

κατὰ μίμησιν τῶν ὁλοκαυτουμένων, ἐπὶ τιμῇ TOV
προσώπων, οὐχ ὅτι πρὸς ἀξίωσιν at ἱεραὶ γίνονται
κρίσεις, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τῶν τὰς ἀρετὰς μεγάλων καὶ ὡς
ἀληθῶς ἁγίων ἁμαρτήματα τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὡς

246 ἑτέρων κατορθώματα νομίζεσθαι. καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ

[249] βαθεῖα καὶ | ἀρετῶσα πεδιάς, κἂν ἀφορήσῃ ποτέ,
τῆς λυπρόγεω φύσει καρπὸν φέρει πλείονα, τὸν
αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῶν σπουδαίων καὶ φιλοθέων
συμβαίνει τὰς πρὸς καλοκἀγαθίαν ἀφορίας ἀμείνους
εἷναι ὧν ἐκ τύχης οἱ φαῦλοι κατορθοῦσι: γνώμῃ
γὰρ οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς δρᾶν ὑπομένουσι.

941 XLV. Ταῦτα διαταξάμενος περὶ ἑκάστης ἰδέας
τῶν θυσιῶν ἐν μέρει, τῆς τε ὁλοκαύτου καὶ σωτη-
ρίου καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, ἄλλην προσνομοθετεῖ κοινὴν
τῶν τριῶν, ἵνα ταύτας ἐπιδείξῃ φίλας καὶ συγγενεῖς
οὔσας: ἡ δὲ συναγωγὸς αὐτῶν εὐχὴ μεγάλη κα-

948 λεῖται. διὰ τί δὲ ταύτης ἔτυχε τῆς προσρήσεως,
λεκτέον: ὅταν ἀπάρξωνταί τινες ἀπὸ παντὸς μέρους
κτήσεως, πυρούς, κριθάς, ἔλαιον, οἶνον, τὰ κάἀλ-
λιστα τῶν ἀκροδρύων, ἔπειτα τῶν ζῴων τὰ πρωτό-
τοκα ἀρρενικά, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν καθαρῶν καθιερώ-
σαντες, τὰ δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν μὴ καθαρῶν κατ᾽ ἀξίαν
τιμησάμενοι, μηκέτ᾽ ἔχοντες ὕλας, ἐν αἷς δια-
θήσονται τὴν εὐσέβειαν, αὑτοὺς ἀνατιθέασι καὶ
καθιεροῦσιν, ἄλεκτον ἐπιδεικνύμενοι ὁσιότητα καὶ

ὑπερβολήν τινα γνώμης φιλοθέου. διὸ καὶ μεγάλη

4 Such actions would hardly be κατορθώματα in the strict
Stoic sense. See note on Quod Deus 100.

>’ See Num. vi. 1-12. The “Great Vow” is the name
regularly applied to the vow of the Nazirite from v. 2, és ἂν

242

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 245-248

of the whole-burnt-offerings to do honour to the
persons concerned, not because God’s holy judge-
ments are given by considerations of position but
because the sins of the greatly virtuous and the truly
sacred are such as to be regarded as acts of righteous-
ness if done by others. For as the fields where the 246
soil is deep and rich, even if they are sometimes un-
productive, bear more fruit than those where it is
naturally thin and poor, so too we find in virtuous and
God-loving persons that their unproductiveness of
positive goodness is better than the fortuitous
righteous actions? of the bad whose nature does not
allow them ever to act intentionally in an honest way.
XLV. After laying down these ordinances about 247
each particular kind of sacrifice, whole-burnt-offering,
preservation-offering and sin-offering, he institutes
rules for another which partakes of the three, to shew
the friendship and kinship which exists between them.
This connecting link between them is called the Great
γον." I must explain why it has acquired this name. 248
When people have paid first-fruits of every part of
their property, in wheat, barley, oil, wine and their
finest orchard-fruits and also in the first-born males
of their livestock, consecrated in the case of the clean
species and valued at an adequate compensation in the
case of the unclean, as they have no more material re-
sources with which to give a pledge of their piety, they
dedicate and consecrate themselves, thus shewing an
amazing sanctification and a surpassing devotion to
God. And therefore it is fitly called the Great Vow,
μεγάλως εὔξηται εὐχὴν ἀφαγνίσασθαι ἁγνείαν (E.V. “made a
special vow, the vow οὗ ἃ Nazirite, to separate himself’’).
The allegorical meaning, as Philo understood it, has been

given on special details in several places, and more fully in
Quod Deus 87 ff.

243

249

250

251

252

PHILO

προσηκόντως εὐχὴ καλεῖται" κτημάτων γὰρ τὸ
μέγιστον αὐτός τίς ἐστιν αὑτῷ" οὗ παραχωρεῖ καὶ
ἐξίσταται. ποιησαμένῳ δὲ τὴν εὐχὴν τάδε διαγο-
pever* πρῶτον μὲν ἄκρατον μὴ προσφέρεσθαι μηδ᾽
“ὅσα ἐκ σταφυλῆς κατεργάζεται ᾿᾿ μηδ᾽ ἄλλο τι
μέθυσμα πίνειν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει λογισμοῦ, νομίζοντα
τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον ἱερᾶσθαι: καὶ γὰρ τοῖς λει-
τουργοῖς τῶν ἱερέων δίψαν ἀκουμένοις ὕδατι τὰ
περὶ μέθην ἀπείρηται" δεύτερον δὲ τὰς τρίχας τῆς
κεφαλῆς μὴ ἀποκείρεσθαι, σύμβολον ἐναργὲς τοῖς
ὁρῶσι παρέχοντα' τοῦ μὴ παρακόπτειν τὸ νόμισμα
τῆς εὐχῆς" τρίτον δὲ τὸ σῶμα φυλάττειν καθαρὸν
καὶ ἀμίαντον, ὡς μὴ γονεῦσιν ἐπεισιέναι τετελευ-
τηκόσι μηδ᾽ a δελφοῖς, τὴν φυσικὴν εὔνοιαν καὶ
συμπάθειαν πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ φίλτατα νικώσης
εὐσεβείας, ἣν ἀεὶ νικᾶν καλὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ συμφέρον.
XLVI. ἡκούσης δὲ τῆς προθεσμίας,

τρία ζῷα κελεύει προσάγειν ἐπὶ λύσει τῆς εὐχῆς,
ἄρνα καὶ ἀμνάδα καὶ κριόν, τὸν μὲν εἰς ὁλοκαύ-
τωσιν, τὴν δὲ περὶ ἁμαρτίας, τὸν δὲ κριὸν εἰς θυσίαν
τοῦ σωτηρίου. πᾶσι γὰρ τούτοις ἐμφέρεταϊ" πως ὁ
εὐξάμενος, τῇ μὲν ὁλοκαύτῳ θυσίᾳ διὰ τὸ μὴ τῶν
ἄλλων μόνον ἀπαρχῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑαυτοῦ παρα-
χωρεῖν, τῇ δὲ περὶ ἁμαρτίας διὰ τὸ ἄνθρωπος εἶναι
--καὶ γὰρ ὁ τέλειος ἡ γενητὸς οὐκ ἐκφεύγει τὸ
διαμαρτάνειν---, τῇ δὲ τοῦ σωτηρίου, διότι τὸν
σωτῆρα ὄντως θεὸν ἐπιγέγραπται τῆς σωτηρίας

1 MSS. παρέχοντας.

2 If this reading is right, we may suppose that the verb
takes the meaning of the common adjective ἐμφερής =“ like,”
but I do not know of any parallel. The other reading

συμφέρεται, ἐ.6. “‘corresponds with,” has less ms. authority,
but seems otherwise more suitable.

244

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 248-252

for his own self is the greatest possession which any-
one has, and this self he forgoes and puts himself
outside it. When he has made the vow, the lawgiver 249
gives him the following instructions. First, he must
not take any strong drink nor anything “ which he
makes from the grape ”’ nor drink any other intoxicant

to the overthrow of his reason, but hold himself to be
serving as priest during that time. For indeed such
priests as are performing the rites have to quench
their thirst with water and are forbidden intoxicants.
Secondly, he must not shave the hairs of his head, thus 250
giving a clear symbol to the eye that he does not
debase the sterling coinage of his vow. Thirdly, he
must keep his body pure and undefiled to the extent

of abstaining from contact with parents or brothers
after death, thus letting his kindly affection and
fellow-feeling with the closest and dearest yield to
piety that victory which it is both honourable and
profitable that it should always win.

4 XLVI. When the final day as appointed has come, 251
the law bids him bring, to release him from his vow,
three animals, a he-lamb, a ewe-lamb and a ram, the
first for a whole-burnt-offering, the ewe-lamb as a
sin-offering, and the ram as a preservation-offering.
For all these find their likeness in the maker of the vow: 252
the whole-burnt-offering, because he surrenders not
only the other first-fruits and gifts but also his own
self; the sin-offering, because he is a man, since even
the perfect man, in so far as he is a created being,
never escapes from sinning ; the preservation-offering,
because he has acknowledged and adopted the real
preserver, God, as the author of his preservation

@ See Num. vi. 13 f.

245

PHILO

” 3 > 3 3 \ \ \ > 9 A
αἴτιον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἰατροὺς Kal Tas παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς
4 e A Ἁ > », \ A >
[250] δυνάμεις": of | μὲν yap ἐπίκηροι καὶ θνητοὶ μηδ
A e A e
αὑτοῖς ὑγείαν ἱκανοὶ παρασχεῖν, at δ᾽ οὔτε πάντας
vs 9 AN Ἁ 9 \ 3 aA > > "» ω \
οὔτ᾽ ἀεὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὠφελοῦσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ὅτε Kal
μέγα βλάπτουσιν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ κῦρος ἕτερος ἀνῆπται
καὶ τῶν δυνάμεων καὶ τῶν χρωμένων αὐταῖς.
¢ 2 , / \ A a. ,
253 ἐκπλήττει δέ με TO τῶν τριῶν ζῴων
, 3 , , \ s
προσαγομένων εἰς διαφερούσας θυσίας μηδὲν εἶναι
ἕτερογενές, ἀλλὰ ταὐτοῦ γένους τὰ πάντα, κριὸν καὶ
oN \ > 4 4 4 ¢ ” ~
ἄρνα καὶ ἀμνάδα" βούλεται yap, ὅπερ ἔφην μικρῷ
πρότερον, διὰ τούτου παραστῆσαι, ὅτι ἀδελφαὶ καὶ
A e A ~ ΄- ~
συγγενεῖς εἰσιν al τρεῖς ἰδέαι τῶν θυσιῶν, TH Kal
~ \ \
τὸν μετανοοῦντα σῴζεσθαι καὶ τὸν σῳζόμενον ἐκ
~ “ 3 ’ - \ ς 4
τῶν ψυχικῶν ἀρρωστημάτων μετανοεῖν καὶ ἕκά-
Α e \ κι
τερον σπεύδειν πρὸς ὁλόκληρον καὶ παντελῆ διά-
e €e ¢ 4 ’ 4
θεσιν, ἧς ἡ ὁλόκαυτος θυσία σύμβολον.
3 \ 9 e \ 3 “A \ > e \
254 ἐπεὶ δ᾽ αὑτὸν ηὔξατο προσαγαγεῖν, τον ὃ ἱερὸν
\ 3 4 σ 3 ’ ’ ”
βωμὸν od θέμις αἵματι ἀνθρωπίνῳ μιαίνεσθαι, ἔδει
4 e on 4 4
δέ TL πάντως μέρος ἱερουργηθῆναι, μέρος ἐσπούδασε
5 A vd 3 \ v7 > 3 4 4 4
λαβεῖν, ὅπερ ἀφαιρεθὲν οὔτ᾽ ἀλγηδόνας οὔτε λώβην
ἀπεργάζεται: τοῦ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα φυτικοῦ
4 ~
καθάπερ δένδρου περιττοὺς κλάδους τὰς τῆς
“- ’ 3 4 \ 4 4 Φ
κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἀπέκειρε καὶ παρέδωκε πυρί, ᾧ
4 ~ A 4 4 ω
τὰ κρέα τῆς τοῦ σωτηρίου θυσίας ἕψεται" προσ-
a aA > 4 4
nKovTws, ἵνα τι τῶν τοῦ εὐξαμένου μέρος, ὃ μὴ

@ Lit. ‘‘ the part of the body which has ‘ growth’ like a tree,”
φύσις in this special sense being opposed on the one hand to ἕξις
(‘‘ cohesion ”’) as in stones, and on the other to ψυχή (“‘ life’’).

246

THE SPECIAL LAWS, 1. 252-254

instead of the physicians and their faculties of healing.
For the physicians are mortals ready to perish, unable
to secure health even for themselves, and their
faculties are not beneficial to all persons nor always
to the same persons, but sometimes do great harm :
there is Another who is invested with lordship over
such faculties and those who exercise them.

I note, and it is a very striking point, that in the three 253
animals brought for the different sacrifices there is
no difference of species. They are all of the same
species, a ram, a he-lamb and a ewe-lamb. For the
law wishes to show in this way what I mentioned a
little before, that the three kinds of sacrifice are
sisters of one family, because the penitent is preserved
and the person preserved from the maladies of his soul
repents, and both of them are pressing forward to
that perfect and wholly sound frame of mind of which
the whole-burnt-offering is a symbol.

Another point—the votary has vowed to bring him- 254
self, and while it would be sacrilege that the altar -
should be defiled by human blood, it was quite neces-
sary that some part of him should be sacrificially
offered. The part, therefore, which his zeal prompted
him to take was one which can be removed without
causing either pain or mutilation. He cut off the
hairs of his head, which are to the body like the super-
fluous branches in the vegetation of a tree,* and gave
them to the fire in which the flesh of the preservation-
offering is cooked, a fitting proceeding to secure that
at least some part of the votary’s self which cannot be

Cf. Leg. All. ii. 22, with note giving references to S.V.F’.
ii. 457-460. There we had δύναμις ἐκτική, φυτική, ψυχική, and
Philo goes on to say that our bones have ἕξις, and our nails
and hair φύσις. Cf. also the fuller explanation of the terms
in Quod Deus 35 ff.

217

PHILO

ἐπιφέρειν ἔξεστι TH βωμῷ, θυσίας γοῦν εἴδει
συνανακραθῇ, γενόμενον ὕλη φλογὸς t ἱερᾶς.

255 XLVI. Ταῦτα μὲν κοινὰ τῶν ἄλλων. ἔδει δὲ
καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἀπάρξασθαί τι τῷ βωμῷ, μὴ
νομίσαντας ἀσυλίαν εὑρῆσθαι τὰς ὑπηρεσίας καὶ
λειτουργίας ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἐτάχθησαν. ἡ δ᾽ ἀπαρχὴ πρέ-
πουσα ἱερεῦσιν ἀπ᾽ οὐδενὸς τῶν ἐναίμων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ

256 τοῦ καθαρωτάτου τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τροφῆς" σεμί-
δαλις γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἐνδελεχὴς αὐτῶν θυσία, μέτρου
ἱεροῦ τὸ δέκατον καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, οὗ τὸ μὲν
ἥμισυ πρωΐας, τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ δείλης προσάγεται,
ταγηνισθὲν ἐν ἐλαίῳ, μηδενὸς εἰς βρῶσιν ὑπο-
λειφθέντος: χρησμὸς γάρ ἐστι, πᾶσαν θυσίαν ἱερέως
ὁλόκαυτον εἶναι καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῆς εἰς ἐδωδὴν ἀπο-
νέμεσθαι.

Εἰρηκότες οὖν, ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν, τὰ περὶ θυσιῶν
ἑξῆς καὶ περὶ τῶν θυόντων λέξομεν.

XLVIII. | * Βούλεται TOV ἀνάγοντα θυσίας ὁ
νόμος καθαρὸν εἶναι σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν, Ψυχὴν μὲν
ἀπό. τε τῶν παθῶν καὶ νοσημάτων καὶ ἀρρωστη-
μάτων καὶ κακιῶν τῶν ἔν τε λόγοις καὶ πράξεσι,
258 τὸ δὲ σῶμα ad’ ὧν ἔθος αὐτῷ μιαίνεσθαι. κάθαρσιν

᾿ ἐπενόησεν ἑκατέρῳ τὴν προσήκουσαν, ψυχῇ μὲν

διὰ τῶν πρὸς τὰς θυσίας εὐτρεπιζομένων ζῴων, σώ-

ματι δὲ διὰ λουτρῶν καὶ _ περιρραντηρίων, περὶ ὧν

μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν" ἄξιον γὰρ τῷ κρείττονι καὶ

ἡγεμονικωτέρῳ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, ψυχῇ, καὶ τὰ τῶν
1 Here the mss. insert the heading Περὶ τῶν θυόντων.

(251]
257

¢ The Greek phrase is vague. Heinemann ‘mit einem

Stiick des Opfers sich vermischte’’; Mangey only “ sacrificia
admiscentur.” I understand it to mean that it comes to
belong to the same εἶδος or species as an ordinary sacrifice.

248

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 254-258

lawfully brought to the altar should be merged in and
share the nature of sacrifice * by serving as fuel to a
holy flame.

XLVII. These rules apply to the laity in common, 255
but the priests also had to make offerings of first-
fruits to the altar, and not suppose that the services
and ministrations to which they were appointed en-
titled them to immunity. ° The first-fruits suitable
for the priest are not taken from any animal with
blood in its veins, but from the purest form of
human food. Fine flour constitutes their perpetual 256
sacrifice, a tenth part of the sacred measure for every
day, half offered in the morning and half in the even-
ing. It is fried in oil and none of it is left over to be
eaten. For it is a divine command that every sacri-
fice offered by a priest should be wholly consumed by
fire and none of it set apart for food.

We have described to the best of our ability the
regulations for sacrifices and will next proceed to
speak of those who offer them.

XLVIITI. °The law would have such a person pure 257
in body and soul, the soul purged of its passions and
distempers and infirmities and every viciousness of
word and deed, the body of the defilements which
commonly beset it. For each it devised the purifica- 258
tion which befitted it. For the soul it used the
animals which the worshipper is providing ὦ for sacri-
fice, for the body sprinklings and ablutions of which
we will speak a little later. For precedence in speech
as well as elsewhere must be given to the higher and

» See Lev. vi. 20-22. For “‘ perpetual ”’ see on § 170.

¢ Heading in mss. ‘‘Of those who sacrifice,’’ and fresh
numeration of chapters in Cohn.

ἀ The stress is on εὐτρεπιζομένων. The fact of his providing
the victims shews the purity of his motives.

249

PHILO

4 > aA aA 4 Ss e 7
259 λόγων ἀπονεῖμαι πρεσβεῖα. τίς οὖν ἡ ταύτης

κάθαρσις; ἴδε, φησίν, ὦ οὗτος, 6 προσάγεις
ἱερεῖον, ὡς ἔστιν ὁλόκληρον καὶ παντελῶς μώμων
ἀμέτοχον, ἐπικριθὲν ἐκ πολλῶν ἀριστίνδην διανοίαις
μὲν ἀδεκάστοις ἱερέων ᾿ὀξυωπεστάταις δ᾽ αὐτῶν
ὄψεσι καὶ τῷ συνεχεῖ τῆς ἀσκήσεως συγκεκροτη-
μέναις εἰς ἀνυπαίτιον ἐπίσκεψιν" ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ τοῖς
ὀφθαλμοῖς μᾶλλον 7 τῷ λογισμῷ τοῦτο κατίδῃς,
ἐκνίψῃ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ ὅσας ἐν ἅπαντι τῷ βίῳ
κηλῖδας ἀπεμάξω,; τὰ μὲν ἀβουλήτοις συντυχίαις,

260 τὰ δὲ καθ᾽ ἑκούσιον γνώμην. εὑρήσεις γὰρ τὴν

261

[259]

τοσαύτην περὶ τὸ ζῷον ἀκριβολογίαν αἰνιττομένην
διὰ συμβόλου τὴν τῶν σῶν βελτίωσιν ἠθῶν: οὐ γὰρ
ὑπὲρ ἀλόγων ὁ νόμος, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν νοῦν καὶ λόγον
ἐχόντων, ὥστε οὐ τῶν θυομένων φροντίς ἐστιν, ἵνα
μηδεμίαν ἔχῃ λώβην, ἀλλὰ τῶν θυόντων, t ἵνα περὶ
μηδὲν πάθος κηραίνωσι. τό γε μὴν σῶμα,
ὡς εἶπον, λουτροῖς καὶ περιρραντηρίοις καθαίρει
καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ περιρρανάμενον εἰς “ἅπαξ ἢ ἀπολουσά-
μενον εὐθὺς εἴσω περιβόλων ἱερῶν παρέρχεσθαι,
ἀλλὰ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἔξω διατρίβειν κελεύει καὶ δὶς
περιρραίνεσθαι τῇ τρίτῃ καὶ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ μετὰ
ταῦτα ᾿ουσαμένῳ παρέχει τάς τε εἰσόδους καὶ τὰς
ἱερουργίας ἀδεεῖς. XLIX. | ὅσον δὲ κἀν τούτῳ
τὸ προμηθὲς καὶ φιλόσοφον, ἐπισκεπτέον. of
μὲν ἄλλοι σχεδὸν ἅπαντες ἀμιγεῖ ὕδατι περιρραί-
vovtat, θαλάττῃ μὲν ot πολλοί, τινὲς δὲ ποταμοῖς,
ot δὲ καὶ κάλπεσιν ἐκ πηγῶν ἀρυόμενοι" Μωυσῆς δὲ
τέφραν προετοιμασάμενος ὑπολειφθεῖσαν ἐξ ἱεροῦ

1 mss. ἀνεμάξω.

@ See Num. xix. 11 ἢ δ See Num. xix. 17, 18.
250

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 259-262

more dominant element in ourselves, the soul. How 259
then is the soul purified? ‘‘ Note, friend,” says the
lawgiver, “ how perfect and utterly free from blemish
is the victim which you bring selected as the best of
many by the priests with all impartiality of mind
and clearness of vision, the result of the continued
practice which has trained them to faultless dis-
crimination. For if you observe this with your
reason rather than with your eyes you will proceed
to wash away the sins and defilements with which
you have besmeared your whole life, some involuntary
and accidental, some due to your own free will. For 260
you will find that all this careful scrutiny of the
animal is a symbol representing in a figure the re-
formation of your own conduct, for the law does not
prescribe for unreasoning creatures, but for those
who have mind and reason. It is anxious not that
the victims should be without flaw but that those
who offer them should not suffer from any corroding
passion. - @ As for the body, it purifies it 261
with ablutions and sprinklings and does not allow the
person to be sprinkled and washed once for all and
then pass straightway within the sacred precincts,
but bids him stay outside for seven days and be
twice sprinkled on the third and seventh day, and
after that, when he has bathed himself, it gives him
full security to come within and offer his sacrifice.
XLIX. The following regulation also shews a far- 262
sighted wisdom which should be noted. In almost
all other cases men used unmixed water for the
sprinkling. By most people it is taken from the sea,
by others from the rivers, and by others it is drawn
in ewers from the wells.?. But Moses first provided
ashes, the remnants of the sacred fire, obtained in a.

251

PHILO

A a“ A ’ > 7 la 9 A
mupos—ov δὲ τρόπον, αὐτίκα δηλωθήσεται---ἀπὸ

4 A A 9 A A 3 4 3
ταύτης φησὶ δεῖν ἀναιρεῖσθαι καὶ ἐμβάλλοντας εἰς
ἀγγεῖον αὖθις ὕδωρ ἐπιφέρειν, εἶτα ἐκ τοῦ κράματος
βάπτοντας ὑσσώπου κλάδους τοῖς καθαιρομένοις

9 ’ 9 » 9 9 9 A “- ’ 9 wn
263 ἐπιρραίνειν. αἰτία δ᾽ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν

“ 4 N > A A ~ +t 4
ἥδε" βούλεται τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ ὄντος θεραπείαν
ἰόντας γνῶναι πρότερον ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν
οὐσίαν: ὁ γὰρ ἀνεπιστήμων ἑαυτοῦ πῶς ἂν δυνηθείη

aA Ἁ 9 4 A 4 > e 4
καταλαβεῖν τὴν ἀνωτάτω καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὑπερβάλλουσαν
264 θεοῦ δύναμιν; ἔστιν οὖν ἡμῶν ἡ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα
οὐσία, γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ, ἧς ὑπομιμνήσκει διὰ τῆς
καθάρσεως, αὐτὸ τοῦθ᾽ ὑπολαμβάνων εἶναι τὴν
ὠφελιμωτάτην κάθαρσιν, τὸ γνῶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν καὶ
ἐξ οἵων ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς σπουδῆς ἀξίων, τέφρας καὶ
265 ὕδατος, συνεκράθη. τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπιγνοὺς τὴν ἐπί-
A > 4 A

βουλον οἴησιν εὐθὺς ἀποστραφήσεται καὶ καθελὼν
τὸ ὑπέραυχον εὐαρεστήσει θεῷ καὶ μεταποιήσεται
τῆς ἵλεω δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ {τοῦδ μισοῦντος ἀλαζο-
νείαν. εἴρηται γάρ που καλῶς, ὅτι ὁ ἐγχειρῶν
ὑπεραύχοις ἢ λόγοις ἢ ἔργοις οὐκ ἀνθρώπους μόνον
> Ἁ ἢ A [1 A 4, 9 A > 9 \
ἀλλὰ Kat “ θεὸν παροξύνει’ τὸν ἰσότητος καὶ
266 παντὸς τοῦ ἀρίστου δημιουργόν. ἐν οὖν τῷ περιρ-
ραίνεσθαι πληττομένοις καὶ διεγειρομένοις μόνον
οὐκ ἄντικρυς αὐτὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα, γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ, φωνὴν
ἀφιέντα φησίν" ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν ἡ τοῦ σώματος ὑμῶν
οὐσία, ἡμᾶς ἡ φύσις κερασαμένη θείᾳ τέχνῃ
διέπλασεν εἰς ἀνθρωπόμορφον ἰδέαν, ἐξ ἡμῶν
παγέντες, ὅτε ἐγένεσθε, πάλιν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀνα-
λυθήσεσθε, ὅταν δέῃ θνήσκειν: οὐδὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ

4 See Num. xv. 30 Kai ψυχὴ ἥτις ποιήσῃ ἐν χειρὶ ὑπερηφανίας
. . . τὸν θεὸν οὗτος παροξυνεῖ (1,ΧΧ).

459)

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 262-266

manner which will be explained shortly. Some of
these, he says, are to be taken and thrown into a
vessel and afterwards have water poured upon them.
Then the priests are to dip branches of hyssop in the
mixture and sprinkle with it those who are being
purged. The reason for this may be aptly stated as 263
follows. Moses would have those who come to serve
Him that 15 first know themselves and of what sub-
stance these selves are made. For how should he
who has no knowledge of himself be able to appre-
hend the power of God which is above all and trans-
cends all? Now the substance of which our body 264
consists is earth and water, and of this he reminds
us in the rite of purging. For he holds that the most
profitable form of purification is just this, that a man
should know himself and the nature of the elements
of which he is composed, ashes and water, so little
worthy of esteem. For if he recognizes this, he wil] 265
straightway turn away from the insidious enemy, self-
conceit, and abasing his pride become well-pleasing to
God and claim the aid of His gracious power Who
hates arrogance. For that is a good text * which tells
us that he who sets his hand to words and deeds of
pride “provokes”’ not only men, but also ‘‘ God,” the
author of equality and all that is most excellent. So 266
then, whilst they are being thus sprinkled, deeply
moved and roused as they are, they can almost hear
the voice of the elements themselves, earth and water,
say plainly to them, “ We are the substance of which
your body consists: we it is whom nature blended
and with divine craftsmanship made into the shape
of human form. Out of us you were framed when
you came into being and into us you will be resolved
again when you have to die. For nothing is so made

253

PHILO

μὴ ὃν φθείρεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἀρχή,
τ: ταῦτα καὶ τὸ τέλος.

267 L. Ἤδη δ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ἀπο-
δοῦναι τῆς περὶ τὴν τέφραν ταύτην ἰδιότητος" ἔστι
γὰρ οὐ ξύλων αὐτὸ μόνον δαπανηθέντων ὑ ὑπὸ πυρός,
ἀλλὰ καὶ ζῴου πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην κάθαρσιν ἐπι-

268 τηδείου. κελεύει γὰρ δάμαλιν πυρρὰν ἄζυγον
ἄμωμον ἀχθεῖσαν σφαγιασθῆναι μὲν ἔξω πόλεως,
τὸν δ᾽ ἀρχιερέα λαμβάνοντα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος
ἑπτάκις ἐπιρραίνειν ἀντικρὺ τοῦ νεὼ πάντα, εἶθ᾽
ὅλην κατακαίειν σὺν δορᾷ καὶ κρέασι καὶ αἵματι
καὶ πλήρει τῇ κοιλίᾳ περιττωμάτων" ἤδη δ᾽ ὑὕπο-

[253] μαραινομένης τῆς φλογὸς εἰς τὸ μεσαίτατον | τρία
ταῦτα ἐμβάλλειν, ξύλον κέδρινον καὶ ὕσσωπον καὶ
κόκκινον, κελεύει, εἶτ᾽ ἐὰν ἀποσβεσθῇ, τὴν τέφραν
συλλέγειν καθαρὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἀποτιϑέναι᾽ πάλιν

269 ἔξω πόλεως ἐν χωρίῳ καθαρῷ. τίνα δὲ διὰ τούτων
ὡς διὰ συμβόλων αἰνίττεται, δι᾿ ἑτέρων ἠκριβώ-
σαμεν ἀλληγοροῦντες. ἀναγκαῖον οὖν τοὺς μέλ-

οντας φοιτᾶν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἐ ἐπὶ μετουσίᾳ θυσίας τό
τε σῶμα φαιδρύνεσθαι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν πρὸ τοῦ
σώματος" δεσπότις γὰρ καὶ βασιλὶς καὶ ἐν ἅπασι
κρείττων ἅτε θειοτέρας φύσεως μεταλαχοῦσα. τὰ
δὲ φαιδρύνοντα διάνοιάν ἐστι σοφία καὶ τὰ σοφίας
δόγματα πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν
αὐτῷ ποδηγετοῦντα καὶ ὁ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἱερὸς
χορὸς καὶ αἱ κατ᾽ ἀρετὰς καλαὶ καὶ σφόδρα ἐπαινε-

* See Num. xix. 2-9.

> Here the juxtaposition of the clean man shews that Philo
must have taken καθαρῷ χωρίῳ as ‘ ‘ clean,” and not as “* open,”
though it does not follow that he did so in the passages cited
in the note on Mos. ii. 72, or even in § 232 above.

¢ No such account survives. Heinemann suggests that it
284.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 266-269

as to disappear into non-existence. Whence it came
in the beginning, thither will it return in the end.”

L. I must now also fulfil my promise to describe 267
the special qualities of these ashes. They are not
merely the ashes of wood consumed by fire but also
of a living creature well-suited to a rite of purification
such as this. % He orders ared heifer which has never 268
been yoked and without blemish to be taken outside
the city and there slaughtered. Then the high
priest is to take of the blood and sprinkle it seven
times over everything in front of the sanctuary, then
burn it wholly to ashes with the skin and flesh and
blood and the belly filled with its ordure. When
the flame is dying down, he is to cast right into the
middle these three things, cedar wood and hyssop and
scarlet wool. Then if it is quite extinguished, a clean
man is to collect the ashes and deposit them outside
the city in a clean place.2 What these things sym- 269
bolically indicate has been described in full elsewhere
where we have expounded the allegory.° So we see
that they who mean to resort to the temple to take
part in sacrifice must needs have their bodies made
clean and bright,? and before their bodies their souls.
For the soul is queen and mistress, superior to the
body in every way because a diviner nature has been
allotted to it. The mind is cleansed by wisdom and
the truths of wisdom’s teaching which guide its steps
to the contemplation of the universe and all that
is therein, and by the sacred company of the other
virtues and by the practice of them shewn in noble
belongs to the Quaestiones of which we have nothing beyond
Exodus.

4 φαιδρύνω is more than simply “clean,” in colloquial English

to make “‘smart”’ or “ὁ spick and span,” = διακεκοσμημένος in
§ 270.

255

270

271

PHILO

\ 4 e \ > 4 4 ,

ταὶ πράξεις. ὁ μὲν οὖν τούτοις διακεκοσμημένος ἴτω
A aA 3

θαρρῶν εἰς οἰκειότατον αὐτῷ τὸν νεών, ἐνδιαίτημα
πάντων ἄριστον, ἱερεῖον ἐπιδειξόμενος αὑτόν" ὅτῳ
3 3 4 \ 9 A e ’ \
ὃ ἐγκάθηνται καὶ ἐλλοχῶσιν at πλεονεξίαι καὶ
ἐπιθυμίαι τῶν ἀδικιῶν, ἐγκαλυψάμενος ἠρεμείτω
τὴν ἀναίσχυντον ἀπόνοιαν καὶ τὸ λίαν θράσος ἐ ἐν οἷς
εὐλάβεια λυσιτελὲς ἐπισχών: τὸ γὰρ τοῦ ὄντως

» e vo 2 ” 1 , ” > »
ὄντος ἱερὸν ἀνιέροις ἄβατον. θυσίαις, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν,

iy A 4 4 e ’ > 4
ὦ γενναῖε, ὁ θεὸς οὐ χαίρει, Kav ἑκατόμβας ἀνάγῃ

᾽ὔ ~ \ 4 4
τις" κτήματα γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα, κεκτημένος
ὅμως" οὐδενὸς δεῖται" χαίρει δὲ φιλοθέοις γνώμαις
> \
Kal ἀνδράσιν ἀσκηταῖς ὁσιότητος, παρ᾽ ὧν ψαιστὰ
A
καὶ κριθὰς καὶ τὰ εὐτελέστατα ὡς τιμιώτατα πρὸ

“-- 0
272 τῶν πολυτελεστάτων ἄσμενος δέχεται" κἂν μέντοι

279

μηδὲν ἕτερον κομίζωσιν, αὑτοὺς φέροντες πλήρωμα
καλοκἀγαθίας τελειότατον τὴν ἀρίστην ἀνάγουσι
θυσίαν, ὕμνοις καὶ εὐχαριστίαις τὸν εὐεργέτην καὶ
σωτῆρα θεὸν γεραίροντες, τῇ μὲν διὰ τῶν φωνητη-
ρίων ὀργάνων, τῇ δὲ ἄνευ γ ὠττης καὶ στόματος,
μόνῃ ψυχῇ τὰς vontas ποιούμενοι διεξόδους καὶ
ἐκβοήσεις, ὧν ἕν μόνον οὖς ἀντιλαμβάνεται τὸ
θεῖον: at γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐ φθάνουσιν ἀκοαὶ
συναισθέσθαι.

LI. ‘Qs δ᾽ ἀψευδής ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ λόγος καὶ οὐκ
ἐμὸς ἀλλὰ τῆς φύσεως, μαρτυρεῖ μέν πως καὶ ἡ

1 Cohn punctuates with full stop after θυσίαις. I follow
Heinemann’s punctuation. εἴποιμ᾽ dv in cases like this
generally, if not always, is inserted parenthetically, e.g. ii. 96.

2 Cohn (Hermes, 1908, p. 190) thinks that ὅμως makes no
sense and suggests κεκτημένος δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὅλως : but see note a.

α T understand the connexion of thought to be “ though He
possesses all, He needs it not, and therefore how much more are
the gifts of men unneeded.”

256

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 270-273

and highly praiseworthy actions. He, then, who is 270
adorned with these may come with boldness to the
sanctuary as his true home, the best of all mansions,
there to present himself as victim. But anyone
whose heart is the seat of lurking covetousness and
wrongful cravings should remain still and hide his
face in confusion and curb the shameless madness
which would rashly venture where caution is profit-
able. For the holy place of the truly Existent is
closed ground to the unholy. To such a one I would 27]
say, ‘ Good sir, God does not rejoice in sacrifices even
if one offer hecatombs, for all things are His posses-
sions, yet though He possesses* He needs none of
them, but He rejoices in the will to love Him and in
men that practise holiness, and from these He accepts
plain meal or barley,® and things of least price, hold-
ing them most precious rather than those of highest
cost.’’ And indeed though the worshippers bring 272
nothing else, in bringing themselves they offer the
best of sacrifices, the full and truly perfect oblation
of noble living,° as they honour with hymns and
thanksgivings their Benefactor and Saviour, God,
sometimes with the organs of speech, sometimes
without tongue or lips, when within the soul alone
their minds recite the tale or utter the cry of praise.
These one ear only can apprehend, the ear of God,
for human hearing cannot reach to the perception
of such. |

LI. That what I have said above is true and is the 273
word not of myself but of nature is attested not only

> Or “ barley ground or unground.”’

¢ Or, taking πλήρωμα in apposition with αὑτούς, ‘‘ when
bringing themselves, that is, the full oblation,” ete. In

either case “‘ bringing themselves’’ is explained in the next
few words as the heartfelt thanksgiving of the lips and soul.

VOL. VII 5 257

PHILO

. ) aA A A A
ἐνάργεια τρανὴν παρέχουσα πίστιν τοῖς μὴ διὰ TO
φιλόνεικον ἐπιτηδεύουσιν ἀπιστίαν, μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ
6 νόμος προστάξας δύο κατασκευασθῆναι βωμοὺς
καὶ ταῖς ὕλαις καὶ τοῖς τόποις καὶ ταῖς χρείαις

A ,
274 διαφέροντας" ὁ μὲν yap ἐκ λίθων λογάδων ἀτμήτων
συνῳκοδόμηται καὶ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ παρὰ ταῖς τοῦ νεὼ
A
προσβάσεσιν ἵδρυται Kal γέγονε πρὸς χρείαν τὴν

~ A A 4
τῶν ἐναίμων: ὃ δὲ χρυσοῦ μὲν τοῦ καθαρωτάτου
’ σ 9 9 9 ’ 3 ~
κατεσκεύασται, ἵδρυται δ᾽ ἐν ἀδύτοις εἴσω τοῦ
προτέρου καταπετάσματος, ὃς οὐδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων
9 A e A Ψ A aA e 4. aA e V4 A
[245] ἐστὶν | ὁρατὸς ὅτι μὴ τοῖς ἁγνεύουσι τῶν ἱερέων Kal
, \ , \ a ’ 9 a
275 γέγονε προς χρείαν τὴν τῶν θυμιαμάτων. ἐξ ου
aA ’ 9 e¢ A 4 A >
δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι καὶ βραχύτατον λιβανωτὸν παρ
ἀνδρὸς ὁσίου τιμιώτερον 6 θεὸς νομίζει μυρίων

e ~ A “A

θρεμμάτων, ὅσα av τις ἱερουργῇ μὴ σφόδρα ἀστεῖος
ὦν: ὅσῳ γάρ, οἶμαι, λίθων μὲν εἰκαίων ἀμείνων
χρυσός, τὰ δ᾽ ἐν ἀδύτοις τῶν ἐκτὸς ἁγιώτερα,
τοσούτῳ κρείττων ἡ διὰ τῶν ἐπιθυμιωμένων εὐ-

’ ~ A A 9 ’ Ψ 9 ’᾽ a
276 χαριστια TIS διὰ τῶν εναίμων. ὅθεν οὐ μονον ὕλης

A Font

πολυτελείᾳ καὶ κατασκευῇ καὶ τόπῳ τετίμηται ὁ
΄-- ’ ’ 9 A A ~ ’ >
τῶν θυμιαμάτων βωμός, ἀλλὰ Kai τῷ πρότερον καθ
ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὑπηρετεῖν ταῖς πρὸς θεὸν ἀνθρώ-
πων εὐχαριστίαις" οὐ γὰρ ἐφεῖται τὴν ὁλόκαυτον
’ ” a \ ν \ \
θυσίαν ἔξω προσαγαγεῖν, πρὶν ἔνδον περὶ βαθὺν

α The two altars are described respectively in Ex. xxvii.
and xxx. There, however, they are both made of acacia
wood, χχ ἄσηπτον, “incorruptible,” though the second is
overlaid with gold. The “‘ unhewn stones ’’ seems to be

258

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 273-276

by its self-evident certitude which provides clear
grounds of belief to those who do not out of
contentiousness cultivate disbelief, but also by the
law which commanded two altars to be constructed
differing in materials and situations and in the use
to which they were applied.“ For one of these was 274
built of stones picked up and left unhewn, and it was
set in the open air beside the avenues to the sanctuary
and. was to be used for blood-offerings. The other
was formed of the purest gold ; it was set in the inner
shrine within the first veil, not to be seen by any
except such priests as were in a state of purity,’ and
it was to be used for frankincense-offerings. This 275
clearly shews that even the least morsel of incense
offered by a man of religion is more precious in the
sight of God than thousands of cattle sacrificed by
men of little worth. For as gold is better than casual
stones and all in the inner shrine more sacred than
what stands outside, so and in the same measure is
the thank-offering of incense superior to that of the
blood of beasts. And therefore the altar of incense 276
receives special honour, not only in the costliness of
its material, its construction and its situation, but by
taking every day the earlier place in subserving the
thanksgiving which men render to God. For it is
not permitted to bring the victim of the whole-burnt-
offering outside until the incense has been offered

drawn from Ex. xx. 25, ‘‘ And if thou make me an altar of
stone thou shalt not build it of hewn stones.” Philo’s descrip-
tion may be derived from personal observation, for Josephus,
Contra Apion. i. 198 quotes a passage ascribed to Hecataeus
(4th-3rd century s.c.), in which he states, when speaking of
the temple at Jerusalem, that the altar is built of heaped up
stones unhewn and unwrought. But see App. pp. 621-622.
’ And therefore permitted to officiate.
259

277

PHILO

δ 9 aA A 9 9 \ 4
ὄρθρον ἐπιθυμιᾶσαι. τὸ δ᾽ ἐστὶ σύμ-
9 Ley 4 A AD! A \ A A δ
βολον οὐχ ἑτέρου τινὸς ἢ τοῦ παρὰ θεῷ μὴ τὸ
πλῆθος τῶν καταθυομένων εἶναι τίμιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ
καθαρώτατον τοῦ θύοντος πνεῦμα λογικόν: εἰ μὴ
@ a ΄
ἄρα δικαστὴς μέν, ᾧ μέλει τῆς ὁσίας κρίσεως, παρά
τινος τῶν κρινομένων οὐκ ἂν λάβοι δῶρα 7 λαβὼν

Ν 3 ’ 90.9 > A 3 A ‘\
ἔνοχος ἔσται δωροδοκίᾳ, οὐδ᾽ ἀνὴρ ἀστεῖος παρὰ

μοχθηροῦ τινος, ἄνθρωπος παρ᾽ ἀνθρώπου πλου-
τοῦντος αὐτὸς ἴσως δεόμενος, σὺ δ᾽ φήθης τὸν θεὸν
δεκάζεσθαι, τὸν αὐταρκέστατον ἑαυτῷ καὶ μηδενὸς
τῶν ἐν γενέσει χρεῖον, ὅστις ὧν τὸ πρῶτον ἀγαθόν,
τὸ τελειότατον, ἡ ἀέναος πηγὴ φρονήσεως καὶ
δικαιοσύνης καὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς, ἀποστρέφεται τὰς

“A 4 4
278 παρὰ τῶν ἀδίκων δωρεάς. ὁ δὲ κομίζων οὐ πάντων

ἀναισχυντότατος ἐξ ὧν ἔκλεψεν ἢ ἥρπασεν ἢ
ἠρνήσατο ἢ ἀπεστέρησε μέρος ὡς κοινωνῷ τῆς
ἑαυτοῦ κακίας καὶ πλεονεξίας διδούς; πάντων
κακοδαιμονέστατε, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν τῷ τοιούτῳ, δυοῖν
θάτερον ἣ λήσεσθαι προσδοκᾷς ἢ καταφανήσεσθαι:

219 λήσεσθαι μὲν οὖν ὑπολαμβάνων ἀνεπιστήμων εἶ

“- 4 > A Φ 4 ec A \ 4
θεοῦ δυνάμεως, καθ᾽ ἣν ἅμα πάντα ὁρᾷ καὶ πάντων
3 ’ ’ 9 3 4 4
ἀκούει: νομίζων δ᾽ ἐμφανήσεσθαι θρασύτατος εἶ"
δέον ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἥμαρτες ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι, προφέρεις εἰς
μέσον τὰ δείγματα ὧν ἠδίκησας καὶ ἐπισεμνυνό-
μενος διανέμῃ πρὸς θεόν, ἀπαρχὰς αὐτῷ κομίζων

α The same statement has been made in § 171. See Ex.
xxx. 7, where the Lxx says that the incense-offering is to be
made πρωΐ πρωΐ, which Philo presumably takes as= βαθὺς
ὄρθρος, and earlier than the πρωΐ of Ex. xxix. 39 and Num.
xxviii. 4 (which he renders here and in § 169 by dua τῇ ἕῳ).
The statement in § 171 that the evening incense-offering was

260

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 277-279

inside at the first glimpse of day.” The 277
symbolical meaning is just this and nothing else:
that what is precious in the sight of God is not the
number of victims immolated but the true purity of
a rational spirit in him who makes the sacrifice. Can
you think that if the judge whose heart is set on giving
righteous judgement will not take gifts from any of
the litigants, or if he does take them will be open to
the charge of bribery; if again the good man will
not receive them from the bad, though both are men,
and the one perhaps in need and the other rich—can
you think, I say, that God can be corrupted, God
Who is absolutely sufficient to Himself and needs
nothing of anything created, and being as He is the
primal good, the consummation of perfection, the
perennial fountain of wisdom and justice and every
virtue, turns His face from the gifts of the unjust ?
And is not he who proffers them the most shameless 278
of men when he gives to God a share of the profits
of his thefts or robbery or denial of a just debt or
refusal to pay it, and treats Him as a partner in his
wickedness and greed? ‘To such a one I would say
‘““ Most miserable of wretches, there are only two
alternatives: You expect that your conduct will
either be unobserved by God or patent to Him. If 279
the former, you little know the power by which He
sees all and hears all: if the latter, your audacity is
beyond measure. When you should hide your face
in shame for the sins you have committed, you make
an open show of the outward signs of your iniquity
and, priding yourself on them, assign a share to God.
You bring Him the first-fruits of unholiness and have

after the evening sacrifice would seem to be opposed to the
argument in this passage.

261

[264]
280

281 &

[266]

282

283

PHILO

ἀνοσίους, καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσω τοῦθ᾽ ὅτι οὔτε νόμος
ἀνομίαν παραδέχεται οὔτε φῶς ἡλιακὸν σκότος. ὁ
δὲ θεὸς καὶ νόμων ἐστὶ παράδειγμα ἀρχέτυπον καὶ
ἡλίου ἥλιος, νοητὸς αἰσθητοῦ, παρέχων ἐκ τῶν
ἀοράτων πηγῶν ὁρατὰ φέγγη τῷ βλεπομένῳ.

* Πάνυ καλῶς ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς τοῦ νόμου στήλαις
κἀκεῖνο ἀναγέγραπται, μίσθωμα πόρνης εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν
μὴ κομίζειν πεπρακυίας τὴν ἰδίαν ὥραν, ἑλομένης
ἕνεκα λημμάτων αἰσχρῶν ἐπονείδιστον βίον. εἰ δὲ
τὰ παρὰ γυναικὸς ἡταιρηκυίας δῶρα ἀνίερα, πῶς
οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τὰ παρὰ ψυχῆς πεπορνευμένης, ἥτις
παρέρρι ev | ἑαυτὴν ἐπ᾽ αἰσχύνῃ καὶ ὕβρεσι ταῖς
ἐσχάταις, οἰνοφλυγίαις, ὀψοφαγίαις, “φιλαργυρίαις,
φιλοδοξίαις, φιληδονίαις, ἄλλαις μυρίαις παθῶν τε
αὖ καὶ νοσημάτων καὶ κακιῶν ἰδέαις; ὧν τὰ
μιάσματα ἐκεῖνα τίς ἂν ἐκνίψαι χρόνος; ἔγωγε οὐκ
οἷδα. τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἑταιρῶν τὴν ἐργασίαν κατέλυσε
πολλάκις γῆρας, ἐπειδήπερ ἐξώροις γενομέναις
οὐδεὶς ἔτι πρόσεισιν, ἀπομαρανθείσης ὥσπερ τινῶν
ἀνθῶν τῆς ἀκμῆς" ψυχῆς δὲ πορνείαν ἀκολασίᾳ
συντρόφῳ καὶ συνήθει πεπαιδοτρι ημένης τίς ἂν
αἰὼν μεταβάλοι πρὸς εὐκοσμίαν; αἰὼν μὲν οὔ,
θεὸς δὲ μόνος, ᾧ δυνατὰ τὰ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἀδύνατα.
δεῖ δὴ τὸν μέλλοντα θύειν σκέπτεσθαι, μὴ εἰ τὸ

1 At this R has the heading Περὶ τοῦ μίσθωμα πόρνης εἰς τὸ
ἱερὸν μὴ κομίζειν, though A and H transfer it with the five
sections that follow to the end of this treatise, and make them
the introduction to a separate treatise, composed of the
material already printed in Vol. II. pp. 106-119, De Sac.
20-33. See Introduction to that treatise, p. 93.

4 The heading here introduced in mss., “ΟΥ̓ bringing the
hire of a harlot into the temple,” is of course in copies which
do not transfer these sections as described in note 1° quite

262

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 279-283

not reflected that the law does not admit of lawless-
ness nor sunlight of darkness. But God is the arche-
type on which laws are modelled: He is the sun of
the sun, in the realm of mind what that is in the realm
of sense, and from invisible fountains He supplies
the visible beams to the sun which our eyes behold.”

α There is a very excellent ordinance inscribed in 280
the sacred tables of the law, that the hire of a harlot
should not be brought into the temple : ἢ the hire,
that is, of one who has sold her personal charms and
chosen a scandalous life for the sake of the wages of
shame. But if the gifts of one who has played the 281
harlot are unholy, surely more unholy still are the
gifts of the soul which has committed whoredom,
which has thrown itself away into ignominy and the
lowest depths of outrageous conduct, into wine-
bibbing and gluttony, into the love of money, of
reputation, of pleasure, and numberless other forms
of passion and soul-sickness and vice. What length
of time can purge away the stains of these ? None,
to my knowledge. The harlots’ traffic indeed is 282
often brought to a close by old age, since when the
freshness of their charm is passed, all cease to seek
them now that their bloom is faded like the bloom of
flowers. But as for the soul, when by constant
familiarity with incontinence it has been schooled
into harlotry, what agelong stretch of years can
convert it to decent living ? Not even the longest,
but only God, with Whom that is possible which is
impossible with us. So he who intends to sacrifice 283
must consider not whether the victim is unblemished

absurd. The point of the harlot’s hire is merely introduced
as an illustration of the moral enforced.
δ See Deut. xxiii. 18.

263

PHILO

ἱερεῖον ἄμωμον, ἀλλ᾽ εἰ ἡ διάνοια ὁλόκληρος αὐτῷ
καὶ παντελὴς καθέστηκε. διερευνάτω μέντοι καὶ
τὰς αἰτίας, ὧν ἕνεκα ἀνάγειν ἀξιοῖ θυσίας" ἤτοι γὰρ
εὐχαριστῶν ἐπὶ προὐπηργμέναις εὐεργεσίαις. ἣ
βαιότητα παρόντων 7 μελλόντων κτῆσιν ἀγαθῶν
αἰτούμενος ἢ κακῶν παρόντων 7 προσδοκωμένων
ἀποτροπήν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἅπασιν ὑγείαν καὶ σωτηρίαν
284 ἐκπορίζειν ὀφείλει τῷ λογισμῷ. εἴτε γὰρ ἐπὶ
προὔπηργμένοις εὐχαριστεῖ, μὴ ἀχαριστησάτω
αῦλος γενόμενος --σπουδαίῳ γὰρ ἐδόθησαν αἱ
χάριτες---, εἴτε βεβαιούμενος τὰ παρόντα ἀγαθὰ καὶ
χρηστὰ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων προσδοκῶν, ἄξιον
αὑτὸν παρεχέτω τῶν εὐπραγιῶν ἀστεῖος ὦν, εἴτε
κακῶν τινων φυγὴν αἰτούμενος, μὴ δράτω κολά-
σεων ἐπάξια καὶ τιμωριῶν.

11. " Πῦρ, φησίν, ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καυθή-
σεται διὰ παντὸς ἄσβεστον: εἰκότως, οἶμαι, καὶ
προσηκόντως" ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ τοῦ θεοῦ χάριτες
ἀέναοι καὶ ἀνελλιπεῖς καὶ ἀδιάστατοι, ὧν pel”
ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι τυγχάνουσιν, καὶ τὸ
σύμβολον τῆς εὐχαριστίας, ἡ ἱερὰ φλόξ, ζωπυρεί-
σθω καὶ ἀεὶ ἄσβεστος ἔστω. τάχα μέντοι καὶ διὰ
τοῦδε" βούλεται τὰς παλαιὰς ταῖς νέαις θυσίαις
ἁρμόσασθαι καὶ ἑνῶσαι τῇ μονῇ καὶ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ

A 4 “- A ,
αὐτοῦ πυρός, ᾧ πᾶσαι καθιεροῦνται, πρὸς ἔνδειξιν

.«

[254]
285

[255]
286

1 Here the MSS. interpolate the heading Ta ἀλλα περὶ τὸ
θυσιαστήριον (or τὸν βωμόν). ,

2 mss. τόδε. Perhaps "καὶ διὰ τόδε: βούλεται, as Heinemann
suggests, citing 8 309.

@ The heading here introduced, ‘‘ Of the other matters con-
cerning the altar,” which, as no later heading is given,
presumably extends to the rest of the treatise, is almost as

264

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 283-286

but whether his own mind stands free from defect
and imperfection. Further, let him examine the
motives which determine him to make the offering.
For either he is giving thanks for benefits already
received or is asking for security in his tenure of
present blessings or for acquisition of others to come,
or for deliverance from evils, either present or ex-
pected, and all these demand that he should put
himself into a condition of mental health and safety.
For if he is offering thanks for what has already been 284
granted, let him not shew ingratitude by falling from
the state of virtue in which he received these boons.
Or if he is securing present blessings or has bright
expectations for the future, let him shew himself by
good conduct worthy of such happy events. Or if
he is seeking to escape from some ills, let none of his
actions be deserving of chastisement and punishment.
LII. * The fire on the altar, he tells us, will burn 285
continuously and not be extinguished.’ That, I
think, is natural and fitting, for since the gracious
gifts of God granted daily and nightly to men are
perennial, unfailing and unceasing, the symbol of
thankfulness also, the sacred flame, should be kept
alight and remain unextinguished for ever. Perhaps 286
also he wishes in this way to employ the abiding
presence of the same fire by which all the sacrifices
are consecrated to unite them, old and new alike,°
and thus shew that they carry out perfectly the duty

absurd as the last. At the best it only serves for a descrip-
tion of §§ 285-295. In §§ 296-298 we pass on to the lamps,
and after that to general reflections on the morality enjoined
in the cult. Cohn ignores both this and the preceding head-
ing in his numeration of chapters.

ὃ See Lev. vi. 9, 12, 13.

¢ αὶ 9. those of the past, and those of the present and future.

265

PHILO

τοῦ τελείας ἐν εὐχαριστίαις εἶναι, κἂν ἀπὸ μυρίων
ὅσων ἀφορμῶν γίνωνται κατὰ περιουσίας ἀφθόνους
ἢ τοὐναντίον ἐνδείας τῶν προσαγομένων.

287 τὰ μὲν ῥητὰ ταῦτα [σύμβολα νοητῶν], τὰ δὲ πρὸς
διάνοιαν τοῖς τῆς ἀλληγορίας κανόσιν ἐπισκεπτέον"
πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ θυσιαστήριόν ἐστιν ἡ
εὐχάριστος τοῦ σοφοῦ ψυχὴ παγεῖσα ἐκ τελείων
ἀρετῶν ἀτμήτων καὶ ἀδιαιρέτων: οὐδὲν γὰρ μέρος

288 ἀρετῆς ἀχρεῖον. ἐπὶ ταύτης ἀεὶ τὸ ἱερὸν φῶς
ἀνακαίεται φυλαττόμενον ἄσβεστον: διανοίας δὲ
φῶς ἐστι σοφία, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὐναντίον σκότος ψυχῆς
ἀφροσύνη: ὅπερ γὰρ αἰσθητὸν φῶς ὀφθαλμοῖς" πρὸς
κατάληψιν σωμάτων, τοῦτ᾽ ἐπιστήμη ογισμῷ πρὸς
θεωρίαν τῶν ἀσωμάτων καὶ νοητῶν, ἧς ἀεὶ τὸ
φέγγος ἐπιλάμπει μηδέποτε ἀμαυρούμενον (ἢ)
σβεννύμενον .ὃ

288 LITI. Μετὰ ταῦτά φησιν: “ ἐπὶ παντὸς δώρου
προσοίσετε ada,’ dt οὗ, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον
εἷπον, τὴν εἰς ἅπαν διαμονὴν αἰνίττεται" φυλακτή-
ριον γὰρ οἱ ἅλες σωμάτων, τετιμημένοι ψυχῆς
δευτερείοις" ὡς γὰρ αἰτία τοῦ μὴ διαφθείρεσθαι τὰ
σώματα ψυχή, καὶ οἱ ἅλες ἐπὶ πλεῖστον αὐτὰ

290 συνέχοντες καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἀθανατίζοντες. διὸ καὶ
κέκληκε θυσιαστήριον, ἴδιον καὶ ἐξαίρετον ὄνομα
θέμενος αὐτῷ παρὰ τὸ διατηρεῖν, ὡς ἔοικε, τὰς
θυσίας, καίτοι τῶν κρεῶν ἀναλισκομένων ὑπὸ
πυρός. wes εἶναι σαφεστάτην πίστιν, ὅτι οὐ τὰ ἱερεῖα
θυσίαν ἀλλὰ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ προθυμίαν ὕὑπο-

1 Cohn (Hermes, 1908, pp. 190, 191) corrects to προσαγόν-
των. It is certainly more natural, but does not seem to me
necessary. 2 mss. εἰς ὀφθαλμοὺς.

8 R duavpovpevov only. The others σβεννύμενον only.

266

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 286-290

of giving thanks, however numberless are the differ-
ences in the resources on which they are based,
according as the oblations are lavishly abundant or

on the other hand scanty. This is the 287
literal account : the inner meaning must be observed

by the laws of allegory. The true altar of God is the
thankful soul of the Sage, compacted of perfect
virtues unsevered ¢ and undivided, for no part of virtue

is useless. On this soul-altar the sacred light is ever 288
burning and carefully kept unextinguished, and the
light of the mind is wisdom, just as the darkness of the
soul is folly. For knowledge is to the reason what
the light of our senses is to the eye: as that gives
the apprehension of material things, so does know-
ledge lead to the contemplation of things immaterial
and conceptual, and its beam shines for ever, never
dimmed nor quenched.

LIII. After this he says, ‘“ On every gift ye shall 289
offer salt,’’® by which he signifies, as I have said before,
complete permanence. Salt acts as a preservative .
to bodies, ranking in this as second in honour to the «
life-principle. For just as the life-principle causes
bodies to escape corruption, so does salt, which more
than anything else keeps them together and makes
them in a sense immortal. From the same point of 290
view he called the altar a sacrifice-keeper,° evidently
giving it that special and distinctive name from its
preserving the sacrifices, though the flesh is consumed
by fire. And thus we have the clearest proof that he
holds the sacrifice to consist not in the victims but
in the offerer’s intention and his zeal which derives

@ An allusion to the unhewn stones of which the altar was
built; see § 274. > See Lev. ii. 13.
¢ χηρεῖν -- “ keep,”’ θυσίας =“‘ sacrifices.” Cf. Mos. ii. 106.

267

PHILO

A 4 aA εὰ Φ > ae δ. 4
αμβάνει τοῦ καταθύοντος εἶναι, ἐν TO μόνιμον
\ A A
291 καὶ βέβαιον ἐξ ἀρετῆς. προσέτι κἀκεῖνο προσνομο-
A 4 A
Beret, κελεύων πᾶσαν θυσίαν diya ζύμης καὶ
Ζ“λ Ul θ ὃ “ 9 “A 9 4
μέλιτος προσάγεσθαι, μηδέτερον ἀξιῶν ἀναφέρειν
> A
ἐπὶ TO θυσιαστήριον" μέλι μὲν ἴσως, ἐπειδήπερ ἡ
συναγωγὸς αὐτοῦ μέλιττα ζῷόν ἐστιν οὐ καθαρόν,
3 / las ~ ~
ἐκ σήψεως καὶ φθορᾶς νεκρῶν, ws ὁ λόγος, βοῶν
’ lon
γεννώμενον, καθὰ Kal ot σφῆκες ἐξ ἱππείων σω-
4 δ “A A
292 μάτων" ἢ κατὰ σύμβολον τοῦ πᾶσαν ἀνίερον εἶναι
τὴν περιττὴν ἡδονήν, τὰ μὲν περὶ τὴν κατάποσιν
γλυκαίνουσαν, πικρὰς δὲ καὶ δυσιάτους αὖθις ἐπι-
’ὔ᾽ 3 ’ @ 43 a 3 Ul Ἁ \
φέρουσαν ἀλγηδόνας, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἀνάγκη τὴν ψυχὴν
a e lon \
σείεσθαι καὶ κλονεῖσθαι παγίως ἱδρυθῆναι μὴ
’ 4 \ \ \ U4 μή 9
208 δυναμένην: ζύμην δὲ διὰ τὴν γινομένην ἔπαρσιν ἐξ
[256] αὐτῆς, πάλιν συμβολικῶς, | ἵνα μηδεὶς προσιὼν τῷ
4 3
θυσιαστηρίῳ τὸ παράπαν ἐπαίρηται φυσηθεὶς ὑπ
3 ’ 3 9 3 A A A 4 3 “
ἀλαζονείας, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μέγεθος ἀποβλέπων
αἴσθησιν λαμβάνῃ τῆς περὶ τὸ γενητὸν ἀσθενείας,
κἂν εὐτυχίαις ἑτέρων διαφέρῃ, καὶ τὸν εἰκότα
ποιησάμενος λογισμὸν στέλλῃ τὸ τοῦ φρονήματος
e 4 Ὁ Ἁ > Ὁ 3 ~ 3
294 ὑπέραυχον ὕψος, τὴν ἐπίβουλον οἴησιν καθαιρῶν. εἰ
γὰρ 6 τῶν ὅλων κτίστης καὶ ποιητὴς καὶ πάντων
ἀνεπιδεὴς ὧν ἐγέννησεν, οὐ πρὸς τὰς ὑπερβολὰς τοῦ
κράτους αὑτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀπιδὼν ἀλλὰ πρὸς
\ \ 3 ’ [4 ’ on @ Ul
τὴν σὴν ἀσθένειαν, μεταδίδωσί σοι τῆς ἵλεω δυνά-
μεως αὑτοῦ τὰς ἐνδείας ἀναπληρῶν αἷς κέχρησαι,
σὲ τί ποιεῖν ἁρμόττει πρὸς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς φύσει
συγγενεῖς καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν στοιχείων σπαρέντας,
τὸν μηδὲν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἀλλὰ μηδὲ σαυτὸν εἰσ-
295 ενηνοχότα; γυμνὸς μὲν γάρ, θαυμάσιε, ἦλθες,

268

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 290-295

its constancy and permanence from virtue. He
adds, too, a further enactment by which he orders 291
every sacrifice to be offered without honey or leaven.*
Both these substances he considers unfit to be brought
to the altar : honey perhaps because the bee which
collects it is an unclean animal, bred from the
putrescence and corruption of dead oxen, we are
told, just as wasps are from the carcasses of horses ° ;
or else he forbids it as a symbol of the utter unholiness 292
of excessive pleasure which tastes sweet as it passes
through the throat but afterwards produces bitter
and persistent pains which of necessity shake and
agitate the soul and make it unable to stand firmly
in its place. Leaven is forbidden because of the 293
rising which it produces. Here again we have a
symbol of the truth, that none as he approaches the
altar should be uplifted or puffed up by arrogance ;
Rather gazing on the greatness of God, let him gain
a perception of the weakness which belongs to the
creature, even though he may be superior to others
in prosperity ; and having been thus led to the
reasonable conclusion, let him reduce the overweening
exaltation of his pride by laying low that pestilent
enemy, conceit. For if the Creator and Maker of the 294
universe, though needing nothing of all that He has
begotten, has regard to your weakness and not to the
vastness of His might and sovereignty, makes you a
partaker in His gracious power and fills up the de-
ficiencies that belong to your life, how ought you to
treat other men, your natural kinsfolk, seedlings
from the same elements as yourself, you who brought
nothing into the world, not even yourself? For naked 295
you came into the world, worthy sir, and naked will

@ See Lev. ii. 11. δ See App. p. 622.
269

PHILO

γυμνὸς δὲ πάλιν ἄπεις, τὸν μεταξὺ χρόνον γενέσεως
καὶ θανάτου παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ χρῆσιν λαβών, ἐν ᾧ τί
ποιεῖν προσῆκον ἣν ἢ κοινωνίας καὶ ὁμονοίας
ἰσότητός τε καὶ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ τῆς (ἄλλης)
ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, ἀποβαλλόμενον τὴν ἄνισον καὶ
ἄδικον καὶ ἀσύμβατον κακίαν, ἣ τὸ ἡμερώτατον
φύσει ζῷον, ἄνθρωπον, ὠμὸν καὶ ἀτίθασον ἐργά-
ζεται;

2906 «LIV. Πάλιν ad’ ἑσπέρας ἕως πρωΐας προστάττει
καίεσθαι λύχνους ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς λυχνίας εἴσω τοῦ
καταπετάσματος, πολλῶν χάριν: ἑνὸς μὲν ἵνα ἐκ
διαδοχῆς τοῦ μεθημερινοῦ φωτὸς καταλάμπηται τὰ
ἅγια γινόμενα ἀεὶ σκότους ἀμέτοχα καθ᾽ ὁμοιότητα
τῶν ἀστέρων" καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι δύντος ἡλίου τὸ ἴδιον
ἀναφαίνουσι φέγγος ἣν ἐτάχθησαν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

297 τάξιν οὐ λείποντες" ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ καὶ
νύκτωρ ἀδελφόν τι καὶ συγγενὲς ταῖς μεθημεριναῖς
θυσίαις ἐπιτελεῖσθαι πρὸς ἀρέσκειαν θεοῦ καὶ μηὃ-
ένα χρόνον ἢ καιρὸν εὐχαριστίας παραλείπειν' ἐπι-
τηδειοτάτη δὲ καὶ προσφυεστάτη νυκτὶ τῆς εὐχαρι-
στίας θυσία---θυσίαν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἄξιον καλεῖν---ἡ τοῦ

298 ἱερωτάτου φέγγους εν τοῖς ἀδύτοις αὐγή' “τρίτου δὲ
καὶ σφόδρα ἀ ἀναγκαίου: ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἐγρη-
γορότες εὖ πάσχομεν ἀλλὰ καὶ καθεύδοντες, τοῦ
φιλοδώρου θεοῦ μεγάλην ἐπικουρίαν, ὕπνον, τῷ
θνητῷ γένει παρασχόντος ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείᾳ σώματός τε
καὶ ψυχῆς, τοῦ μὲν σώματος τῶν μεθημερινῶν
πόνων ἀφιεμένου, τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς. ἐπικουφιζομένης
τὰς φροντίδας καὶ a ἀναχωρούσης εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ
τῶν αἰσθήσεων ὄχλου καὶ θορύβου καὶ δυναμένης
τότε γοῦν ἰδιάζειν καὶ ἐνομιλεῖν ἑαυτῇ, προσ-

4 See Ex. xxvii. 21, Lev. xxiv. 3, 4.
270

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 295-298

you again depart, and the span of time between your
birth and death is a loan to you from God. During
this span what can be meet for you to do but to study
fellow-feeling and goodwill and equity and humanity
and what else belongs to virtue, and to cast away
the inequitable, unrighteous and unforgiving vicious-
ness which turns man, naturally the most civilized of
creatures, into a wild and ferocious animal !

LIV. Again he commands that the lamps on the 296
sacred candlestick within the veil should be kept
burning from evening till early morning. He has
several objects in this. One is, that the holy places
should be illuminated when the daylight leaves them
and thus remain ever exempt from darkness, in this
resembling the stars. For they when the sun has
set display their own light instead and do not forsake
their place in the cosmic order. A second 297
object was, that at night-time also some rites of the
same kith and kin as those of the day-time should be
performed for the service of God, and that no time
or season should omit its thanksgiving. And to shew
our thankfulness the sacrificial offering, for sacrificial
it may quite properly be called, most suitable and
appropriate to the night is the radiance of that most
sacred light in the inner shrine. There is a third 298
reason, a very cogent one: Not only in our waking
hours do we experience blessings, but also in our
slumbers. For God the bountiful has provided our
mortal race with a great support in the form of sleep,
whereby both body and soul are benefited. The body
is released from the labours of the day, the soul
relaxes its anxious cares and retreats into itself, away
from the press and clamour of the senses, and can
then, if at no other time, enjoy privacy and commune

271

299
[257]

PHILO

ηκόντως ἐδικαίωσεν ὁ νόμος τὰς εὐχαριστίας δια-
κληρῶσαι, ὑπὲρ μὲν ἐγρηγόρσεως διὰ τῶν προσ-
αγομένων ἱερείων, ὑπὲρ δὲ ὕπνου καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦδε
ὠφελειῶν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν λύχνων ἐξάψεως.
LV. | “A μὲν οὖν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν νομοθετεῖται
κατὰ προστάξεις καὶ ἀπαγορεύσεις, ταῦτα καὶ τὰ
τούτοις παραπλήσιά ἐστιν: ἃ δὲ κατὰ τὰς φιλο-
σόφους ὑποθήκας καὶ παραινέσεις, ὧδε λεκτέον.
αἰτεῖται γάρ, φησίν, ὦ διάνοια, παρὰ σοῦ ὁ θεὸς
οὐδὲν βαρὺ καὶ ποικίλον ἢ δύσεργον ἀλλὰ ἁπλοῦν

800 πάνυ καὶ ῥάδιον. ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐστὶν “ἀγαπᾶν αὐτὸν ὡς

εὐεργέτην, εἰ δὲ μή, φοβεῖσθαι γοῦν ὡς ἄρχοντα καὶ
κύριον, καὶ διὰ πασῶν ἰέναι τῶν εἰς ἀρέσκειαν ὁδῶν
καὶ λατρεύειν αὐτῷ μὴ παρέργως ἀλλὰ ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ
πεπληρωμένῃ γνώμης φιλο gov καὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν

αὐτοῦ περιέχεσθαι καὶ τὰ δίκαια τιμᾶν.

[ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων αὐτὸς μὲν ἐν ὁμοίᾳ μένει φύσει μὴ τρεπόμενος.
τί dé! τῶν “ἄλλων 6 ὅσα κατὰ τὸν κόσμον ἐστι βελτίωσιν ἴ ἴσχει, ἥλιος
ἢ σελήνη ἢ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων ἢ ὁ σύμπας οὐρανός ;

1 Cohn ἔτι δὲ with R (ut videtur), AH εἴ τι δὲ. The
Armenian is not stated.

4 Here Philo begins his homily on the moral and religious
lessons in Deuteronomy. See Deut. x. 12 f.

> That the rest of this section from ‘‘ Among all these ”’
cannot possibly be in its right place, as it is quite irrelevant
to the context, is, as Cohn and Heinemann agree, quite in-
disputable. But it seems to me that it does not make sense
in itself, and that Heinemann’s admission that it is not ‘‘ ganz
klar” understates the facts. As Cohn prints it, as indicated
in the textual notes, it appears to state that all the other parts
of the universe (except God ?) “ have betterment,” and to illus-
trate this we are told that the mountains rise to a very great
height, the plains get wider, etc. (In this part it is hard to
see why ἢ is used instead of καί.) At the end it appears that

272

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 298-300

with itself. Rightly therefore did the law determine
so to apportion the thank-offerings that thankfulness
is expressed for our waking time by the victims
brought to the altar, for sleep and the benefits which
it gives by the lighting of the sacred lamps.

LV. These and similar injunctions to piety are 299
given in the law in the form of direct commands and
prohibitions. Others which have now to be described
are of the nature of homilies giving admonitions and
exhortations. Addressing himself to the mind of
man he says,” “God asks nothing from thee that is
heavy or complicated or difficult, but only something
quite simple and easy. And this is just to love Him 300
as a benefactor, or failing this to fear Him at least as
a ruler and lord, and to tread in every way that will
lead thee to please Him, to serve Him not half-
heartedly but with thy whole soul filled with the
determination to love Him and to cling to His com-
mandments and to honour justice.”

’[Among all these things God Himself remains with a
nature which changes not. But of all else that is in the
universe, what is there that changes for the better? Sun or
moon or the multitude of the other stars or the whole heaven ?

contrary to what has been said (μὲν οὖν) they remain exactly
as they were from the first. |

The corrections I have made are, apart from the punctu-
ation, very slight, τί δὲ for ἔτι δὲ and πλεῖον for πλεῖστον.
For R’s περιμηκέστερον is, in Cohn’s view, as well as, if not
better supported, than -rarov. But they seem to me to convey
a thought which, however irrelevant to the context, is well
worthy of Philo. The preceding words have probably spoken
of the perpetual movement and change in the universe, from
which God alone is exempt, But does this flux imply
BeAriwois? The ἀρετή of mountains is their height, of the
plains their width. Do they grow higher or wider? And so
with everything else. The one thing in the universe which
is capable of betterment is the soul of man.

VOL. VII τ 978

301

302

303

PHILO

ἀλλὰ Kal τῆς γῆς τὰ μὲν ὄρη πρὸς ὕψος αἴρεται περιμηκέστερον,
ἡ δὲ πεδιὰς ὥσπερ αἱ χυταὶ οὐσίαι ἐπὶ πλεῖον; εὐρύνεται, καὶ ἡ
θάλαττα μεταβάλλει πρὸς πότιμον ἢ οἱ ποταμοὶ πελαγῶν ἐξισοῦνται
μεγέθεσιν; ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν αὐτῶν ὅρων ἕκαστον ἵδρυται ἐφ᾽ οἷς

9 A > > ~ g 3 , 3 ’ A y ’ 4 “--
εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὅτε ἐποίησεν ἐτάχθη: σὺ δὲ βελτίων ἔσῃ ζῶν
ἀνυπαιτίως.

’ A 4 > ᾽ὔ 9 A “4 9 ’ 9
τί δὴ τούτων ἀργαλέον ἐστὶν ἢ ἐπίπονον; οὐκ
ἄπλωτα πελάγη δεῖ περαιοῦσθαι καὶ μέσου χει-

~ ’
μῶνος κλύδωνι καὶ βίαις ἐναντίων πνευμάτων

\
κλονουμένους" ἄνω καὶ κάτω θαλαττεύειν 7 τραχείας

Δ 9 A 4 9 lA 9 e 4 ~ nN
Kal ἀτριβεῖς πεζεύειν avodias, οὐχ ὁδούς, λῃστῶν 7
θηρίων ἐφόδους ἀεὶ κατεπτηχότας ἢ τειχοφυλακεῖν
ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ νυκτερεύοντας, ἐφεδρευόντων πολεμίων

v4
καὶ τοὺς ἀνωτάτω κινδύνους ἀπειλούντων--ἅπαγε,

ὃ A > A λ A A ᾽ὔ θ aA 9 ὃ ~ 9 ’
μηδὲν ἐπὶ καλοῖς λεγέσθω τῶν anddadv: εὐφημητέον
9 “- lA 9 ~ 4 A
ἐπὶ τοῖς οὕτω συμφέρουσιν. ἐπινεῦσαι μόνον δεῖ

A 4 A Ul 9 e 4 \ A
τὴν ψυχήν, Kal πάρεστιν ἐν ἑτοίμῳ τὰ πάντα. ἢ

“-- A ~ ~ A 9
τοῦτο ἀγνοεῖς, ὅτι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ αἰσθητός ἐστιν

e ’ wv
οὐρανὸς Kal 6 νοητός, ὁ κυρίως, εἴποι τις ἄν,
‘ οὐρανὸς odpavod,” καὶ πάλιν ἡ γῆ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ
’ A ’
καὶ σύμπας ὁ κόσμος, ὅ τε ὁρατὸς καὶ ὁ ἀόρατος
’ ~ ~ ~
Kal ἀσώματος, TO παράδειγμα τοῦ ὁρατοῦ οὐρανοῦ;
᾿ 9 Ψ
LVI. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως καὶ ἐξ ἅπαντος ἀνθρώπων γένους

A A 9 ’ 3 ’ 9 ’ 9 lA

τοὺς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀνθρώπους ἀριστίνδην ἐπιλέξας
95) ~ Ul > A Α

εἵλετο καὶ προνομίας" ἠξίωσε τῆς πάσης, ἐπὶ τὴν
e “- A 9 ~ ~

θεραπείαν καλέσας ἑαυτοῦ, τὴν ἀέναον τῶν καλῶν

1 So R: Cohn περιμηκέστατον with AH.

2 mss. πλεῖστον. (Cohn places full stops after οὐρανός and
μεγέθεσιν instead of the marks of interrogation printed above.)

3 MSs. κυκλουμένους. 5 MSS. προνοίας.

* Here the homily brings in Deut. xxx. 11-14, but returns
in § 802 to Deut. x. 14 f.

274:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 300-303

And on earth do the mountains grow to a loftier height or
the lowlands widen forth as liquids spread when poured out?
Is the sea converted into fresh water or do the rivers become
equal in magnitude to the seas? No, each remains firmly
stayed in the same limits in which they were set at the very
first when He made them. But thou, by living a blameless
life, wilt change for the better. ]

α Which of these is painful or laborious ? You have 301
not to cross great waters where no ship has sailed and
in the heart of winter to brave the deep, tossed up and
down by the surging of the waves and the violence of
opposing winds, or to foot it over rough and untrodden
wilds where no road is, in perpetual dread of assault
from robbers or wild beasts, or to pass the night un-
sheltered as a sentry on the walls, threatened with
the gravest perils from the enemy ever watchful for
their chance. No, away with such thoughts. In
good matters let there be no talk of discomfort,
nothing but happy words to describe things so profit-
able. Only must the soul give its assent and every- 302
thing is there ready to your hand. Do you not know
that to God belongs both the heaven perceived by
sense and that known to thought alone, which may
quite properly be called the ‘heaven of heaven,’ ?
again the earth and its contents and all the universe,
both the visible and the invisible and immaterial, the
pattern of the visible? LVI. Yet out of the whole 303
human race He chose as of special merit and judged
worthy of pre-eminence over all, those who are in a
true sense men,° and called them to the service of
Himself, the perennial fountain of things excellent,

δ So Deut. x. 14, ‘‘the heaven and the heaven of heavens.”

¢ The selection of Israel in v. 15 is here interpreted as the
selection of the worthiest. The meaning thus given to οὗ πρὸς
ἀλήθειαν ἄνθρωποι is unusual. Generally ‘the true man” is
the reasonable mind or conscience in the individual man.

275

PHILO

πηγήν, ἀφ' ἧς καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὦμβρησεν a ἀρετὰς καὶ
aveyeev" els ἀπόλαυσιν ὠφελιμωτάτην, νέκταρος

804 μᾶλλον ἢ ἢ οὐχ ἧττον ἀθανατίζον ποτόν. οἰκτροὶ δὲ

[258]

305

306

307

καὶ κακοδαίμονες ὅσοι μὴ TOV ἀρετῆς πότον εὐ-
ὠχήθησαν καὶ κακοδαιμονέστατοι διετέλεσαν οἱ
εἰς ἅπαν ἄγευστοι καλοκἀγαθίας, παρὸν καὶ ἐν-
ευφρανθῆναι καὶ Πηλίου αὐ πῶς δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιό-
THTL ἀλλ᾽ εἰσὶν ἀπερίτμητοι THY καρδίαν,
ἡ φησιν ὁ νόμος, καὶ διὰ σκληρότητα τρόπων a

ηνιασταί, σκιρτῶντες αὐθαδῶς καὶ ἀπαυχενίζοντες"
οὗς νουθετεῖ φάσκων" “περιτέμνεσθε τὴν σκληρο-
καρδίαν,᾽" τὸ δέ ἐ ἐστι, τὰς περιττευούσας. φύσεις τοῦ
ἡγεμονικοῦ, ἃς ai ἄμετροι τῶν παθῶν ἔσπειράν τε
καὶ συνηύξησαν ὁρμαὶ καὶ 6 κακὸς ψυχῆς γεωργὸς
ἐφύτευσεν, ἀφροσύνη, μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀποκείρασθε.
καὶ ὁ τράχηλος, φησίν, ὑμῶν μὴ σκληρὸς ἔστω,
τουτέστι, μ μὴ ἀκαμπὴς ὁ νοῦς καὶ αὐθαδέστατος,
μηδ᾽ ὑπὸ τῆς dyav σκαιότητος ἐπιτηδευέτω τὴν
βλαβερωτάτην ἀμαθίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ φύσει δύσκολον
καὶ δύστροπον ἀποθέμενος ὡς ἐχθρὸν μεταβαλλέτω
πρὸς τὸ εὔκολον," πειθαρχήσων νόμοις φύσεως. ἣ

\ n
οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅτι περὶ τὸ ὃν αἱ πρῶται ‘Kal μέγισται
τῶν δυνάμεών εἶσιν, ἥ τε εὐεργέτις Kal κολαστή-
ριος; καὶ προσηγόρευται ἡ μὲν εὐεργέτις θεός,
ἐπειδὴ κατὰ ταύτην ἔθηκε καὶ διεκόσμησε τὸ πᾶν,
ἡ δὲ ἑτέρα κύριος, καθ᾽ ἣν ἀνῆπται τῶν ὅλων τὸ
1 mss. ἀνενεχθεὶς. 2 MSS. εἰκὸς.

« The figure of the divine watering of the soul is perhaps
suggested by the promise of the water from heaven to irrigate
the land in Deut. viii. 7 and xi. 11.

> Or “‘they,”’ 2.6. those just mentioned.

¢ The phrase comes from Lev. xxvi. 41, though of course

276

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 303-307

from which He sends the shower of the other virtues
gushing forth to give drink, delicious and most bene-
ficial, and conferring immortality as much as or more
than nectar.* Pitiable and miserable are all those 304
who have not feasted to the full on virtue’s draught,
and greatest is the lasting misery of those who have
never tasted the cup of noble living when they might
revel in the delights of righteousness and holiness.
But some ὃ are uncircumcised in heart,
says the law,° and through their hardness of temper
' disobedient to the rein, plunging in unruly fashion
and fighting against the yoke. These he admonishes 305
with the words, “‘ Circumcise the hardness of your
hearts!’’ make speed, that is, to prune away from the
ruling mind the superfluous overgrowths ὦ sown and
raised by the immoderate appetites of the passions
and planted by folly, the evil husbandman of the soul.
And let not your neck be hard, he continues : that is, 306
let not your mind be unbending and exceedingly
unruly, nor in its much frowardness pursue that wilful
ignorance which is so fraught with mischief, but cast-
ing aside as an enemy all that is naturally indocile and
intractable, change over to docility, ready to obey
the laws of nature. ὁ Cannot you see that the primal 307
and chief powers belonging to the Existent are the
beneficent and the punitive ? And the beneficent
is called God because by this He set out‘ and ordered
the world ; the other is called Lord, being that by
which He is invested with the sovereignty of all that

implied in Deut. x. 16, which is the text for the next two
sections.

@ περιτέμνεσθε. . . περιττευούσας. The same play as in § 9.

¢ See Deut. x. 17.

7 Another allusion to the accepted derivation of θεός from
τίθημι. See notes on De Abr. 121 and De Conf. 137 (App.).

277

PHILO

4 A \ 3 > / 4 > \ ‘\
κράτος. θεὸς δὲ οὐκ ἀνθρώπων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
θεῶν ἐστι θεός, καὶ ἄρχων οὐκ ἰδιωτῶν μόνον

,
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρχόντων, μέγας τέ ἐστιν ὧν ὄντως καὶ

808 ἰσχυρὸς καὶ κραταιός. LVII. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ὁ τοσοῦ-

τος ἐν ἀρεταῖς καὶ. δυνάμεσιν ἔλεον καὶ οἶκτον
λαμβάνει τῶν ἐν ἐνδείαις ἀπορωτάτων, οὐκ ἀπ-
αξιῶν γενέσθαι κριτὴς προσηλύτοις ἢ ὀρφανοῖς ἢ
χήραις, ἀλλὰ βασιλέων καὶ τυράννων καὶ τῶν ἐν
μεγάλαις δυναστείαις ὑπεριδὼν τὸ ταπεινὸν τῶν

809 λεχθέντων ἀξιοῖ προνοίας .᾽ τῶν μὲν ἐπ-

ηλύτων διὰ τόδε: καταλιπόντες οὗτοι τὰ πάτρια οἷς
ἐνετράφησαν ψευδῶν πλασμάτων γέμοντα καὶ
τύφου, γενόμενοι ἀτυφίας καὶ ἀληθείας ἐρασταὶ
γνήσιοι, μετεχώρησαν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν, ἱκέται τε καὶ

εραπευταὶ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ἀξίως ὄντες τῆς
προνοίας τῆς ἁρμοττούσης εἰκότως μεταλαγχά-
νουσι, καρπὸν εὑράμενοι τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν καταφυγῆς

310 τὴν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ βοήθειαν. ὀρφανῶν δὲ καὶ

dll

χηρῶν, ἐπειδὴ κηδεμόνας ἀφήρηνται, οἵ μὲν γονεῖς,
αἱ δὲ ἄνδρας, καταφυγὴ δ᾽ οὐδεμία τοῖς οὕτως
ἐρήμοις ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπολείπεται: διὸ τῆς μεγίστης
ἐλπίδος οὐκ ἀμοιροῦσι, τοῦ θεοῦ, διὰ τὴν ἵλεω
φύσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν μὴ ἀπο-
στραφέντος τῶν οὕτως ἐρήμων. ἔστω δή, φησί,
μόνος θεὸς αὔχημά σου καὶ μέγιστον κλέος, καὶ
μήτ᾽ ἐπὶ πλούτῳ μήτε δόξῃ μήτε ἡγεμονίᾳ μήτε
σώματος εὐμορφίᾳ μήτε ῥώμῃ μήτε τοῖς παραπλη-
σίοις, ἐφ᾽ οἷς εἰώθασιν ot κενοὶ φρενῶν ἐπαίρεσθαι,
σεμνυνθῇς, λογισάμενος ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ἀμέτοχα

1 MSS. προνομίας.

@ See Deut. x. 18 ἢ
278

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 307-311

is. But He is the God not only of men but also of
gods, and the ruler not only of commoners but of
rulers, and being truly existent, He is great and
strong and mighty. LVII. 7 Yet vast as are his excel- 308
lences and powers, he takes pity and compassion
on those most helplessly in need, and does not disdain
to give judgement to strangers or orphans or widows.
He holds their low estate worthy of His providential
care, while of kings and despots and great potentates
He takes no account. He provides for 309
the incomers because forsaking the ancestral customs
in which they were bred, customs packed with false
inventions and vanity, they have crossed over to piety
in whole-hearted love of simplicity and truth, and
rendering to Him that truly exists the supplication
and service which are His right, partake in due course
of His protecting care in the measure that fits their
case, and gain in the help that He gives the fruit of
making God their refuge. He provides 310
for the orphans and widows because they have lost
their protectors, in the first case parents, in the second
husbands, and in this desolation no refuge remains
that men can give ; and therefore they are not denied
the hope that is greatest of all, the hope in God, Who
in the graciousness of His nature does not refuse the
task of caring for and watching over them in this
desolate condition. °’Let God alone be thy boast 311
and thy chief glory, he continues, and pride thyself
neither on riches nor on reputation nor dominion nor
comeliness nor strength of body, nor any such thing,
whereby the hearts of the empty-minded are wont
to be lifted up. Consider in the first place that these
things have nothing in them of the nature of the true

> See Deut. x. 21. a Se
279

PHILO

ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τῆς (Tod) ἀγαθοῦ φύσεως, ἔπειτα δ᾽ ὅτι
καιρὸν ὀξὺν ἔχει τῆς μεταβολῆς, μαραινόμενα
812 τρόπον τινά, πρὶν ἀνθῆσαι βεβαίως. ὃ δὴ πάγιον
καὶ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀμετάβλητον ἀγαθὸν μετα-
[259] διώκωμεν καὶ THs | ἱκεσίας καὶ θεραπείας αὐτοῦ
περιεχώμεθα. καὶ μήτε κρατήσαντες
ἐχθρῶν ζηλώσωμεν τὰς ἐκείνων ἐν αἷς εὐσεβεῖν
δοκοῦσιν ἀσεβείας υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας τοῖς αὑτῶν
318 κατακαίοντες θεοῖς---οὐχ ὅτι τὰ τέκνα πᾶσι τοῖς
βαρβάροις ἐμπιμπράναι δι᾿ ἔθους ἐστίν" οὐ γὰρ
οὕτως ἐξηγρίωνται τὰς φύσεις, ὡς, ἃ μηδὲ πο-
λεμίους καὶ ἐχθροὺς ἀσυμβάτους ἐν πολέμῳ, ταῦτα
τοὺς φιλτάτους καὶ οἰκειοτάτους ἐν εἰρήνῃ δρᾶν
ὑπομένειν᾽ ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τὰς ψυχὰς τῷ ὄντι καταφλέ-
γουσι καὶ διαφθείρουσιν ὧ ὧν ἐγέννησαν ἐξ ἔ ἔτι σπαρ-
γάνων ἁπαλαῖς ἔτι μὴ ἐγχαράττοντες τὰς 1 ἀληθείας
δόξας περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὄντος θεοῦ---
μήτ᾽ οὖν ἡττηθέντες ἀναπέσωμεν καὶ
ὑπαχθῶμεν ταῖς ἐκείνων εὐτυχίαις ὡς δι᾽ εὐσέβειαν
314 νενικηκότων" πολλοῖς γὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἐνέδρᾳ συμβαίνουσιν
αἱ παραυτίκα εὐπραγίαι δέλεαρ σφοδρῶν καὶ
ἀνιάτων οὖσαι κακῶν. εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ ἀναξίους ὄντας
κατορθοῦν, μὴ du ἑαυτούς, ἀλλὰ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λυπεῖσθαι
καὶ ἀνιᾶσθαι σφοδρότερον ἡμᾶς οὐχ ὅσια δρῶντας,
ot γεννηθέντες ἐν πολιτείᾳ φιλοθέῳ καὶ ἐντραφέντες
νόμοις ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἀλείφουσι καὶ ἐκ πρώτης
ἡλικίας παιδευόμενοι τὰ κάλλιστα παρὰ θεσπεσίοις
ἀνδράσι τῶν μὲν ὀλιγωροῦμεν, τῶν δ᾽ ὡς ἀληθῶς

1 MSS. τῆς.

@ See Deut. xii. 29-31.
> The warning against misunderstanding the lesson of
defeat does not appear to have any clear parallel in Deutero-

280

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 311-314

good ; secondly, how quickly comes the hour of their
passing, how they wither away, as it were, before
their flower has come to its strength. Let us follow 312
after the good that is stable, unswerving, unchange-
able, and hold fast to our service as His suppliants
and worshippers. So if we are victorious
over our enemies, let us not affect their impious ways
in which they think to show their piety by burning
their sons and daughters to their gods. This does 313
not mean that all the outside nations have a custom
of giving their children to the fire. They have not
become so savage in nature as to bring themselves
to do in peace to their nearest and dearest what they
would not do in wartime to their enemies in the field
or to the objects of their implacable hatred. Rather
the words refer to that consuming fire in which they
veritably destroy the souls of their offspring right
from the cradle by failing to imprint on their still
tender souls truth-giving conceptions of the one, the
truly existent God. > Nor yet if defeated
let us lose heart or be overcome by their successes
as though the victory were due to their piety. To 314
many their temporary pieces of good fortune have
proved to be a pitfall, a trap baited with evils vast and
fatal. And it may well be that the triumph of the
unworthy comes to pass not for their own sake but
that we should be more abundantly distressed and
afflicted for our unholy deeds; we who, born as
citizens of a godly community, reared under laws
which incite to every virtue, trained from our earliest
years under divinely gifted men, show contempt for
their teaching and cling to what truly deserves our

nomy, though there are various passages which threaten
foreign conquest or enslavement as the punishment for
forsaking God, ¢.g. xxviii. 49-57.

281

PHILO

ὀλιγωρίας ἀξίων περιεχόμεθα, παιδιὰν μὲν τὰ
σπουδαῖα, σπουδὴν δὲ τὰ παιδιᾶς ἀξια ἡγούμενοι.
8: LVIII. Kav μέντοι τις ὄνομα καὶ σχῆμα προ-
φητείας ὑποδύς, ἐνθουσιᾶν καὶ κατέχεσθαι δοκῶν,
ἄγῃ πρὸς τὴν τῶν νενομισμένων κατὰ πόλεις
θρησκείαν θεῶν, οὐκ ἄξιον προσέχειν ἀπατωμένους
ὀνόματι προφήτου: γόης γὰρ ἀλλ᾽ οὐ προφήτης
ἐστὶν ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐπειδὴ ψευδόμενος λόγια καὶ
316 χρησμοὺς ἐπλάσατο. κἂν ἀδελφὸς 7 ἢ υἱὸς ἢ θυγάτηρ
ἢ “γυνὴ ἡ οἰκουρὸς ἢ γνήσιος φίλος ἦ τις ἕτερος
εὔνους εἶναι δοκῶν εἰς τὰ ὅμοια ἐνάγῃ προτρέπων
συνασμενίζειν' τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἱερὰ καὶ
τὰς αὐτὰς σπονδάς τε καὶ θυσίας ἀφικνεῖσθαι,
κολαστέον ὡς δήμιον καὶ κοινὸν ἐχθρὸν ὄντα ὀλίγα
φροντίσαντας οἰκειότητος καὶ τὰς παραινέσεις αὐτοῦ
διαγγελτέον πᾶσι τοῖς εὐσεβείας ἐρασταῖς, οἵ
ἀνυπερθέτῳ τάχει ταῖς κατ᾽ ἀνδρὸς ἀνοσίου τιμω-
ρίαις ἐπιδραμοῦνται, κρίνοντες εὐαγὲς τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ
817 φονᾶν. ἔστω γὰρ ἡμῖν μία οἰκειότης καὶ φιλίας ἕν
σύμβολον ἡ 7 πρὸς θεὸν ἀρέσκεια καὶ τὸ πάντα λέγειν

τε καὶ πράττειν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας" αἵ δ᾽ ἐκ προγόνων
ἀφ᾽ αἵματος αὗται λεγόμεναι συγγένειαι καὶ αἱ
κατ᾽ ἐπιγαμίας 7 τινας ἄλλας ὁμοιοτρόπους αἰτίας
οἰκειότητες ἀπορριπτέσθωσαν, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ
τέλος ἐπείγονται, τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ τιμήν, ἣ πάσης
ἑνωτικῆς εὐνοίας ἄλυτος δεσμός ἐστιν" ἀντιλήψονται
[260] γὰρ οἱ τοιοῦτοι σεμνοτέρας καὶ | ἱεροπρεπεστέρας

1 mss. ἐνασμενίζειν.

@ See Deut. xiii. 1-11 and note on § 55 (App. pp. 616-618).
282

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 314-318

contempt, count the serious side of life as child’s-play
and what befits the playground as matters of serious
import.

LVIII. ¢ Further if anyone cloaking himself under 315
the name and guise of a prophet and claiming to be
possessed by inspiration lead us on to the worship
of the gods recognized in the different cities, we
ought not to listen to him and be deceived by the
name of prophet. For such a one is no prophet, but
an impostor, since his oracles and pronouncements are
falsehoods invented by himself. And if a brother or 316
son or daughter or wife or a housemate or a friend
however true, or anyone else who seems to be kindly
disposed, urge us to a like course, bidding us frater-
nize with the multitude, resort to their temples, and
join in their libations and sacrifices, we must punish
him as a public and general enemy, taking little
thought for the ties which bind us to him; and we
must send round a report of his proposals to all the
lovers of piety, who will rush with a speed which
brooks no delay to take vengeance on the unholy
man, and deem it a religious duty to seek his death.
For we should have one tie of affinity, one accepted 317
sign of goodwill, namely the willingness to serve God
and that our every word and deed promotes the cause
of piety. But as for these kinships, as we call them,
which have come down from our ancestors and are
based on blood-relationship, or those derived from
intermarriage or other similar causes, let them all be
cast aside if they do not seek earnestly the same goal,
namely, the honour of God, which is the indissoluble
bond of all the affection which makes us one. For
those who are so minded will receive in exchange
kinships of greater dignity and sanctity, This 318

283

PHILO

4 ~ 4 \ e ‘4 e
318 συγγενείας. βεβαιοῦται δέ μου τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ὃ
"238 A ’ μέ e 66 \ 9 ‘ 32 “-Ἠ ’
νόμος λέγων, ὅτι ot “ τὸ ἀρεστὸν ᾿ τῇ φύσει
~ \ 66 \ \ 3) e + > “- lo \
δρῶντες καὶ “᾿ τὸ καλὸν ᾿᾿ υἱοί εἶσι τοῦ θεοῦ, φησὶ
U 66 e 47 9 ’ “A θ ~ e ~ 37 ὃ λ ,
yap: “υἱοί ἐστε κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν,᾽᾽ δηλονότι
προνοίας καὶ κηδεμονίας ἀξιωθησόμενοι τῆς ὡς ἐκ
9 A ’ ~ >
πατρός" ἡ δὲ ἐπιμέλεια τοσοῦτον διοίσει τῆς" ἀπ
’
ἀνθρώπων, ὅσονπερ, οἶμαι, καὶ ὁ ἐπιμελούμενος
διαφέροι.
319 LIX. Πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι τὰ περὶ τελετὰς καὶ
\ “A \
μυστήρια καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν τοιαύτην τερθρείαν Kal
’ 9 “A e “A a ’
βωμολοχίαν ἐκ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀναιρεῖ νομοθεσίας, οὐκ
> “A Ἁ 9 , ’ ’ 9 ’
ἀξιῶν τοὺς ἐν τοιαύτῃ πολιτείᾳ τραφέντας ὀργιά-
ζεσθαι καὶ μυστικῶν πλασμάτων ἐκκρεμαμένους
3 aA 4 \ \ , \ 4
ὀλιγωρεῖν ἀληθείας καὶ τὰ νύκτα καὶ σκότος προσ-
U4 ’ 4 \
κεκληρωμένα μεταδιώκειν παρέντας τὰ ἡμέρας καὶ
φ λῚ ” ὃ ‘ Ss , λ ’ ’ λ ’
ωτὸς ἄξια. μηδεὶς οὖν μήτε τελείτω μήτε τελεί-
“A ~ \
σθω τῶν Μωυσέως φοιτητῶν Kat γνωρίμων" ἕκά-
\
τερον yap καὶ τὸ διδάσκειν καὶ τὸ μανθάνειν
300 τελετὰς οὐ μικρὸν ἀνοσιούργημα. τί γάρ, εἰ καλὰ
“- ’
ταῦτ᾽ ἐστίν, ὦ μύσται, καὶ συμφέροντα, συγκλει-
: 9 4 aA aA ᾿
σάμενοι ἑαυτοὺς ἐν σκότῳ βαθεῖ τρεῖς 4 τέτταρας
μόνους ὠφελεῖτε, παρὸν ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους ἐν

1 mss. ἰδίοις τοῖς. The correction is stated to be probably
supported by the Armenian.

@ See Deut. xiii. 18 and xiv. 1 ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς τῆς φωνῆς Κυρίου
τοῦ Θεοῦ σου. . . ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν Kal TO ἀρεστὸν ἐναντίον Κυρίου
σι, σι 3 ~ a “- .
τοῦ θεοῦ σου. υἱοὶ ἐστε Kupiov τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν. Philo treats

284.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 318-320

promise of mine is confirmed by the law, where it
says that they who do “ what is pleasing ᾿᾿ to nature
and what is “ good’ are sons of God.?_ For it says,
“Ye are sons to your Lord God,” clearly meaning
that He will think fit to protect and provide for
you as would a father. And how much this watchful
care will exceed that of men is measured, believe me,
by the surpassing excellence of Him who bestows it.
LIX. Furthermore, he banishes from the sacred 319
legislation ὃ the lore of occult rites and mysteries and
all such imposture and buffoonery. He would not
have those who were bred in such a commonwealth
as ours take part in mummeries and clinging on to
mystic fables despise the truth and pursue things
which have taken night and darkness for their pro-
vince, discarding what is fit to bear the light of day.
Let none, therefore, of the followers and disciples of
Moses either confer or receive initiation to such rites.
For both in teacher and taught such action is gross
sacrilege. For tell me, ye mystics, if these things 320
are good and profitable, why do you shut yourselves
up in profound darkness and reserve their benefits
for three or four alone, when by producing them
in the midst of the market-place you might extend

the last six words, which are really the beginning of the new
paragraph, as part of the previous sentence. See also App.
. 622.
: ¢ Philo’s authority in Deuteronomy for this section is
xxili. 17, 18, where, after the words ‘‘ there shall be no harlot
of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite
(xxx fornicator) of the sons of Israel,’’ the txx adds, “‘ there
shall be no τελεσφόρος among the daughters, nor τελισκόμενος
among the sons. L. ἃ S. (1936) give for τελεσφόρος
‘sorceress,”” and for τελισκόμενος ‘initiate’? or ἱερόδουλος.
Whatever the txx means, Philo clearly understood both
words as referring to initiation into the mysteries.

285

PHILO

ἀγορᾷ μέσῃ τὰ τῆς ὠφελείας προθέντας, ἵνα πᾶσιν
ἀδεῶς ἐξῇ βελτίονος καὶ εὐτυχεστέρου κοινωνῆσαι
321 βίου; φθόνος γὰρ ἀρετῆς διῴκισται. οἱ μὲν γὰρ
τὰ βλαβερὰ πράττοντες αἰσχυνέσθωσαν καὶ κατα-
δύσεις ἐπιζητοῦντες καὶ γῆς μυχοὺς καὶ βαθὺ
σκότος ἐπικρυπτέσθωσαν τὴν πολλὴν ἀνομίαν
αὑτῶν ἐπισκιάζοντες, ὡς μηδεὶς ἴδοι" τοῖς δὲ τὰ
κοινωφελῆ δρῶσιν ἔστω παρρησία καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν

la μέσης ἴτωσαν ἀγορᾶς ἐντευξόμενοι πολυ-
ανθρώποις ὁμίλοις, ἡλίῳ καθαρῷ τὸν ἴδιον βίον
ἀνταυγάσοντες καὶ διὰ τῶν κυριωτάτων αἰσθήσεων
τοὺς συλλόγους ὀνήσοντες, ὁρῶντας μὲν ἡδίστας
ὁμοῦ καὶ καταπληκτικωτάτας ὄψεις, ἀκούοντας δὲ
καὶ ἑστιωμένους λόγων ποτίμων, ot τὰς διανοίας
822 τῶν μὴ σφόδρα ἀμούσων εἰώθασιν εὐφραίνειν. ἢ
οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅτι καὶ ἡ φύσις τῶν ἑαυτῆς ἀοιδίμων καὶ
παγκάλων ἔργων οὐδὲν ἀπέκρυψεν, ἀλλὰ ἀστέρας
μὲν καὶ τὸν σύμπαντά οὐρανὸν εἴς τε τὴν δι᾽ ὄψεως
τέρψιν καὶ πρὸς φιλοσοφίας ἵμερον ἀπέφηνεν,
πελάγη δὲ καὶ πηγὰς καὶ ποταμοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀέρος
εὐκρασίας δι’ ἀνέμων τε καὶ αὐρῶν' εἰς τὰς
ἐτησίους ὥρας, φυτῶν τε καὶ ζῴων ἔτι δὲ καρπῶν
ἀμυθήτους ἰδέας εἰς χρῆσιν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν ἀνθρώ-
828 πων; εἶτ᾽ οὐκ ἐχρῆν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἑπομένους τοῖς
ἐκείνης βουλήμασι πάνθ᾽ ὅσα ἀναγκαῖα καὶ χρήσιμα
[261] | προτιθέναι πᾶσι τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐ ἐπ᾿ ὠφελείᾳ; νῦν δὲ

᾿ (Cohn δι᾿ ἀνέμων τε καὶ πνευμάτων : Mangey with A and
H ἀνέμων τε. R has διανέμοντες αὐτῶν and, as ς΄ in R is ἃ
common symbol for καί, the first word clearly stands for δι᾽
ἀνέμων τε καὶ. Why, however, Cohn adopted πνευμάτων (for
which I have substituted the obvious αὐρῶν to represent R’ 8
αὐτῶν), I do not understand. Cf. ii. 172 ἀέρος εὐκρασίαι
ζωτικωτάταις αὔραις ἐπιπνέοντος, and much the same in De
Virt. 93. See also App. p. 622.

286

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 320-323

them to every man and thus enable all to share in

security a better and happier life? For virtue has 321

no room in her home for a grudging spirit.“ Let those
who work mischief feel shame and seek holes and
corners of the earth and profound darkness, there lie
hid and keep the multitude of their iniquities veiled
out of the sight of all. But let those whose actions
serve the common weal use freedom of speech and
walk in daylight through the midst of the market-
place, ready to converse with crowded gatherings, to
let the clear sunlight shine upon their own life and
through the two most royal senses, sight and hearing,
to render good service to the assembled groups, who
through the one behold spectacles as marvellous as
they are delightful,? and through the other feast on
the fresh sweet draught of words 9 which are wont to
gladden the minds of such as are not wholly averse
to learning. Cannot you see that nature also does
not conceal any of her glorious and admirable works,
but displays the stars and the whole heaven to delight
us by the sight and to foster the love of philosophy ;
so too the seas and fountains and rivers and the air so
happily tempered by winds and breezes to make the
yearly seasons, and the countless varieties of plants
and animals and again of fruits—all for the use and
enjoyment of men? Were it not well, then, that we
should follow her intentions and display in public all
that is profitable and necessary for the benefit of
those who are worthy to use it? As it is, we often

“ Cf. Phaedrus 247 a and ii. 249 below.

> The meaning presumably is that a good man’s life is
a finer spectacle than those which united with the mystic
liturgy to charm, and at the same time awe, the initiated.

° Cf. Phaedrus 243 a and see App. p. 622.

287

322

323

324

325

326

PHILO

’ ’ “- A > ~ > ~ ’
συμβαίνει πολλάκις τῶν μὲν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν μηδένα
μυεῖσθαι, λῃστὰς δ᾽ ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ καταποντιστὰς
καὶ γυναικῶν θιάσους βδελυκτῶν καὶ ἀκολάστων,
ἐπειδὰν ἀργύριον παράσχωσι τοῖς τελοῦσι καὶ
ἱεροφαντοῦσιν. ὑπερόριοι δὴ πάντες οὗτοι φυγα-
δευέσθωσαν πόλεως καὶ καταστάσεως, ἐν ἧ τὸ

A \ e > 4 9 9 \ ~ “- \
καλὸν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια δι᾿ αὐτὰ τιμᾶται. ταῦτα μὲν
ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον.

LX. Κοινωνίας δὲ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας εἰσηγητὴς
ὧν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ὁ νόμος ἑκατέρας ἀρετῆς τήν τε
ἀξίωσιν καὶ τὴν σεμνότητα διετήρησεν, οὐδενὶ τῶν
ἀνιάτως ἐχόντων ἐπιτρέψας καταφυγεῖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτάς,
ἀλλὰ πορρωτάτω σκορακίσας. ἐπιστάμενος γοῦν ἐν
ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν μοχθηρῶν παρεισ-

’ \ ὃ \ \ A 4 λῃθ λ θ “
ρέοντας καὶ διὰ τὸ συνειλεγμένον πλῆθος λανθά-
νοντας, ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο γένηται, προανείργει πάντας
τοὺς ἀναξίους ἱεροῦ συλλόγου τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιούμενος

“- 4
ἀπὸ τῶν νοσούντων τὴν θήλειαν νόσον ἀνδρογύνων,
οἱ τὸ φύσεως νόμισμα παρακόπτοντες εἰς ἀκολά-
στων γυναικῶν πάθη καὶ μορφὰς εἰσβιάζονται"
θλαδίας γὰρ καὶ ἀποκεκομμένους τὰ γεννητκὰ
ἐλαύνει τό τε τῆς ὥρας ταμιεύοντας ἄνθος, ἵνα μὴ
ῥᾳδίως μαραΐίνοιτο, καὶ τὸν ἄρρενα τύπον μετα-

Ul 3 ’ 90. ,
χαράττοντας εἰς θηλύμορφον ἰδέαν.
> , A 9 ’ ’ > \ \ \ 3
ἐλαύνει δὲ οὐ μόνον πόρνας ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐκ
πόρνης, ἐπιφερομένους μητρῷον αἶσχος, [καὶ] διότι
ἡ πρώτη σπορὰ καὶ γένεσις αὐτοῖς κεκιβδήλευται
καὶ συγκέχυται διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὡμιληκότων
288

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 323-326

find that no person of good character is admitted
to the mysteries, while robbers and pirates and
associations of abominable and licentious women,
when they offer money to those who conduct the
initiatory rites, are sometimes accepted. Let all
such persons, then, be banished from the confines
of any State or constitution in which morality and
truth are honoured for their own sakes. So much
for this subject.

LX. But while the law stands pre-eminent in en- 324
joining fellowship and humanity, it preserves the
high position and dignity of both virtues by not
allowing anyone whose state is incurable to take
refuge with them, but bidding him avaunt and keep
his distance. Thus, knowing that in assemblies there 325
are not a few worthless persons who steal their way
in and remain unobserved in the large numbers which
surround them, it guards against this danger by
precluding all the unworthy from entering the holy
congregation. It begins with the men who belie
their sex and are affected with effemination, who
debase the currency of nature and violate it by assum-
ing the passions and the outward form of licentious
women. For it expels those whose generative organs
are fractured or mutilated,? who husband the flower
of their youthful bloom, lest it should quickly wither,
and restamp the masculine cast into a feminine form.

And it banishes not only harlots, but 326
also the children of harlots® who carry with them their
mother’s shame, because their begetting and their
birth has been adulterated at the fountain-head and
reduced to confusion through the number of their

@ See Deut. xxiii. 1.
ὃ See Deut. xxiii. 2 (E.V. ““ bastard ’’).

VOL. VII U 289

PHILO

Tats μητράσιν, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν ἀληθῆ πατέρα
ιαγνωναι καὶ διακρῖναι.

3821] ‘O δὲ τόπος οὗτος, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, ἀλληγορίαν
ἐπιδέχεται φιλοσόφου θεωρίας ὧν ἀνάπλεως" τῶν
γὰρ ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἀνοσίων οὐχ εἷς τρόπος, ἀλλὰ
πολλοὶ καὶ διαφέροντες. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἀσωμά-
τους ἰδέας ὄνομα κενὸν ἀμέτοχον ἀληθοῦς πράγ-
ματος εἶναί φασι, τὴν ἀναγκαιοτάτην οὐσίαν ἐκ
τῶν ὄντων ἀναιροῦντες, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀρχέτυπον
παράδειγμα πάντων ὅσα ποιότητες οὐσίας, καθ᾽ ἣν

828 ἕκαστον εἰδοποιεῖτο καὶ διεμετρεῖτο. τούτους αἱ
ἱεραὶ τοῦ νόμου στῆλαι μηνύουσι :: θλαδίας ᾿᾿- ὡς
γὰρ τὸ τεθλασμένον ἀφήρηται τὴν ποιότητα καὶ τὸ
εἶδος καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν € ἐστιν ἣ κυρίως εἰπεῖν ἄμορ-
φος ὕλη, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἀναιροῦσα δόξα ἰδέας πάντα
συγχεῖ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀνωτέρω τῶν στοιχείων

829 οὐσίαν τὴν ἄμορφον καὶ ἄποιον ἐκείνην ἄγει. οὗ
τί γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἀτοπώτερον; ἐξ ἐκείνης γὰρ πάντ᾽
ἐγέννησεν δ θεός, οὐκ ἐφαπτόμενος αὐτός---οὐ γὰρ
ἦν θέμις ἀπείρου καὶ πεφυρμένης ὕλης ψαύειν τὸν
εὐδαίμονα καὶ “μακάριον--, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀσωμάτοις
δυνάμεσιν, ὦ ὧν ἔτυμον ὄνομα αἱ ἰδέαι, κατεχρήσατο
πρὸς τὸ γένος ἕκαστον τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν λαβεῖν

[262] μορφήν. ἡ δὲ πολλὴν ἀταξίαν | εἰσηγεῖται καὶ
ovyyvow’ ἀναιροῦσα γὰρ ταῦτα, δι᾽ ὧν αἱ ποιό-
THTES, συναναιρεῖ ποιότητας.

880 Ἕτεροι δ᾽ ὡς ἐν ἄθλοις κακίας τὰ ἐπ᾽ ἀσεβείᾳ
νικητήρια σπεύδοντες αἴρεσθαι προσυπερβάλλουσιν
ἅμα ταῖς ἰδέαις καὶ ὕπαρξιν θεοῦ παρακαλυπτό-

4 For some remarks on the relation of the following sections
to the philosophers’ schools see App. pp. 622-623.
> See note on § 48.

290

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 326-330

mother’s lovers, so that they cannot recognize or
distinguish their real father.

«This is a topic peculiarly susceptible of allegorical 327
interpretation and full of matter for philosophical
study. For the heads under which the impious and
unholy can be characterized are not one, but many
and different. Some aver that the Incorporeal Ideas
or Forms are an empty name devoid of any real sub-
stance of fact, and thus they abolish in things the
most essential element of their being, namely the
archetypal patterns of all qualities in what exists,
and on which the form and dimensions of each
separate thing was modelled. These the holy tables 328
of the law speak of as “ crushed,” for just as anything
crushed has lost its quality and form and may be
literally said to be nothing. more than shapeless
matter, so the creed which abolishes the Forms con-
fuses everything and reduces it to the pre-elemental
state of existence, that state devoid of shape and
quality. Could anything be more preposterous than 329
this? For when out of that confused matter God
produced all things, He did not do so with His own
handiwork, since His nature, happy and blessed as
it was, forbade that He should touch the limitless
chaotic matter. Instead He made full use of the in-
corporeal potencies ὃ well denoted by their name of
Forms to enable each kind to take its appropriate
shape. But this other creed brings in its train no
little disorder and confusion. For by abolishing the
agencies which created the qualities, it abolishes the
qualities also.

There are others who in the arena of wickedness 330
eagerly compete for the first prize in impiety and go
to the further extreme of drawing a curtain over the

291

PHILO

e 9 » λ 4 δ᾽ > 4 “-
μενοι ὡς οὐκ ὄντος λεγομένου δ᾽ εἶναι χάριν τοῦ
’ 3 ’ a \ > 3 4 “-
συμφέροντος ἀνθρώποις, ot δὴ δι᾽ εὐλάβειαν τοῦ
δοκοῦντος πάντῃ παρεῖναι καὶ πάντα καθορᾶν
” 9 ’ὔ 4 ” 9 ’ 3 4
ὄμμασιν ἀκοιμήτοις [οἷς] ἔμελλον ἀνέξειν ἀδικημά-
’ e ’ 3 4 «¢ 95 4 a)
των. τούτους 6 νόμος εὐθυβόλως “‘ ἀποκόπους
\ “A “-
προσαγορεύει τὴν περὶ τοῦ πάντα γεννῶντος ἐκ-
’ e 4 9 ld \ ’
τετμημένους ὑπόληψιν, ἀγόνους μὲν σοφίας,
ἐπιτηδεύοντας δὲ τὴν μεγίστην κακιῶν, ἀθεότητα.
lj 9 > AN a \ 3 Ul ” 9 ’
331 Τρίτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἔτεμον εἰσηγησά-
“- “A \ “A
μενοι πλῆθος (Oedv) ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν,
πρεσβυτέρων τε αὖ καὶ νεωτέρων, πολυαρχίας
’ A , 3 VA a? \ a °¢
λόγῳ τὸν κόσμον ἀναπλήσαντες, ἵνα τὴν τοῦ ἕνὸς
\ 2᾽ 3 e ’ > “A 3 ᾽
καὶ ὄντως ὄντος ὑπόληψιν ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρώπων δια-
’ 3 ’ Φ > > " e aA
332 volas ἐκτέμωσιν. οὗτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν ot συμβολικῶς
é 3 ’ ’ \ “A ’
“ἐκ πόρνης ᾿ ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου προσαγορευόμενοι"
θ ’ \ δ 4 ’ \ \ 3 “-
καθάπερ γὰρ ὧν μητέρες πόρναι τὸν μὲν ἀληθῆ
’ὔ ΕΣ 3 " 9 > 4 4
πατέρα οὔτε ἴσασιν οὔτ᾽ ἐπιγράψασθαι δύνανται,
\ \ \ \ ° \ > \ \
πολλοὺς δὲ Kal σχεδὸν ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐραστὰς Kal
e --ὦ
ὠμιληκότας, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ οἱ ἀγνοοῦντες
τὸν ἕνα καὶ ἀληθινὸν θεὸν πολλοὺς καὶ ψευδωνύμους
> > “~
ἀναπλάττοντες περὶ TO ἀναγκαιότατον τῶν ὄντων
a Lyd μὰ 4 aN ’ > 9 “-
τυφλώττουσιν, ὅπερ ἣ μόνον ἢ πρώτιστον ἐξ αὐτῶν
S >
σπαργάνων εἰκὸς ἦν ἀναδιδάσκεσθαι:" Ti yap μάθημα
’ὔ BD! ~ + # “-ς
κάλλιον ἢ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος θεοῦ;
82 LXI. Τετάρτους δὲ καὶ πέμπτους ἐλαύνει πρὸς

———$<==

α For the applieation of ἀποκεκομμένος (there including

292

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 330-333

existence of God as well as of the Forms. They assert
that God does not exist, but is alleged to exist for
the benefit of men who, it was supposed, would abstain
from wrongdoing in their fear of Him Whom they
believed to be present everywhere and to survey all
things with ever-watchful eyes. These are happily
called by the law “ mutilated,” * for they have lost by
castration the conception of the Generator of all
things. They are impotent to beget wisdom and
practise the worst of wickednesses, atheism.

A third class are those who have shaped their 331
course in the opposite direction, and introduced a
numerous company of deities male and female, elder
and younger. Thus they have infected the world
with the idea of a multiplicity of sovereigns in order
to geld from the mind of men the conception of the
one and truly existent Being. It is these who are 332
figuratively called by the law “the children of a
harlot.’"® For as anyone who has a harlot for his
mother has no knowledge of, and can claim no
affiliation to, his real father, but must accept the
paternity of most or practically all her lovers and
patrons, so too those who know not the one true God
but invent a number of deities, false so-called, are
blind to the most essential reality with which they
should have been indoctrinated from the cradle to
the exclusion of or before anything else. For what
better theme for the learner can there be than the
Being who truly exists, even God?

LXI. The banishment is extended to a fourth and 333

θλαδίας) to atheism cf. De Mig. 69. The text is usually
applied to unwisdom in general.
ὃ For the application of the words to polytheism cf. De
Mig. 69, De Dec. 8, De Conf. 144.
208

PHILO

\ A 9 \ U 9 ,ὔ 3 A 3 A ~
μὲν TO αὐτὸ τέλος ἐπειγομένους, οὐ μὴν ἀπὸ τῶν
9 aA ’ὔ > / A \
αὐτῶν βουλευμάτων: ἀμφότεροι yap ζηλωταὶ
“-- ’
μεγάλου κακοῦ, φιλαυτίας, ὄντες ὥσπερ τινὰ κοινὴν
9 ’ ’ A a \ > A \
οὐσίαν διενείμαντο τὴν ὅλην ψυχὴν ἐκ λογικοῦ Kal
4 “--
ἀλόγου μέρους συνεστῶσαν' καὶ οἱ μὲν τὸ λογικόν,
Δ A “-- > ’ e \ A 2
ὃ δὴ νοῦς ἐστι, διεκληρώσαντο, οἱ δὲ τὸ ἄλογον,
Ὁ 9 A 9 Va 4 e A
334 ὅπερ εἰς τὰς αἰσθήσεις τέμνεται. οἱ μὲν
οὖν τοῦ νοῦ προστάται τὴν ἡγεμονίαν καὶ βασιλείαν
τῶν ἀνθρωπείων πραγμάτων ἀνάπτουσιν' αὐτῷ καί
e A > A \ 4 Va
φασιν ἱκανὸν εἶναι καὶ τὰ παρεληλυθότα μνήμῃ
“-- 4 ,
διασῴζειν καὶ τῶν παρόντων ἐρρωμένως ἀντι-
4 \ \ 4 > 9 ~
λαμβάνεσθαι Kat τὰ μέλλοντα εἰκότι στοχασμῷ
A ’ a
335 φαντασιοῦσθαΐ τε καὶ λογίζεσθαι. οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν
ὁ γῆν τὴν βαθύγειον καὶ ἀρετῶσαν τῆς ὀρεινῆς καὶ
πεδιάδος κατασπείρας καὶ καταφυτεύσας καὶ τὴν
βιωφελεστάτην γεωργίαν εὑρών: οὗτος ὁ ναῦν
A 9
κατασκευάσας καὶ τὴν χέρσου" φύσιν ἐπινοίαις

/ \ 3
παντὸς λόγου κρείττοσι πλωτὴν ἀπεργασάμενος καὶ

1 MSS. ἀνάγουσιν.
2 Heinemann χερσαῖον. See note a below.

α 2,4. the Ammonites (5th) and the Moabites (4th); see the
continuation of the passage quoted from Deut. xxiii. “‘an
Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly
of the Lord.’ Philo does not actually quote the verse,
possibly feeling that the arguments which lead him to the
identification are too involved for this treatise. But that this
is his meaning clearly appears from Leg. All. iii. 81, when,

294

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 333-335

a fifth class also.* Both these seek the same goal but
have different plans for attaining it. Both classes
are votaries of the pestilent vice of self-assertion,? but
have treated the soul, which is a whole consisting of
two parts, the rational and irrational, as if it were a
property shared by two persons, and have partitioned
it out between them. One class has taken as its
portion the rational part, that is the mind, the other
has taken the irrational, which is subdivided into the
senses. The champions of mind ascribe 334
to it the leadership and sovereignty of human affairs,
and aver that it is competent to preserve the past
by means of memory, to gain a firm apprehension of
the present, and to envisage and calculate the future
by prognostication of what may be expected. It is 335
mind, they say, which sowed and planted the deep and
fertile soil in the uplands and lowlands and so greatly
enriched human life by the invention of agriculture.
It is mind which constructed a ship, and by devices
admirable beyond description turned what was

after noting that Ammon and Moab refused to give food to
Israel, he described the Ammonites as deriving their nature
from “‘ sense’? (αἴσθησις) their mother, and the Moabites from
“‘mind ”’ their father, the latter name being interpreted as ἐκ
πατρός (cf. De Som. i. 89 and Lxx, Gen. xix. 37, “she called
his name Moab, saying ἐκ τοῦ πατρός pov’’). Philo does not,
I think, give any corresponding derivation for Ammon, but
Heinemann suggests that he derived it from the Hebrew ox=
‘* mother,’’ see Gen. xix. 38 E..V. *‘ and she called his name Ben-
ammi’’ (Lxx ἐκ τοῦ γένους pov). Cf. also De Post. 177. See
also App. p. 623 on § 327.

> I do not feel that this word (or “‘self-exaltation’’) is an
adequate word for φιλαυτία in this context, but it seems to me
better than ‘‘ self-love”* or ‘‘selfishness,’’ both of which are
restricted to the love of oneself as an individual, and not as a
member of the race.

295

PHILO

ὁδοὺς ἐν θαλάττῃ πολυσχιδεῖς ἄχρι λιμένων τῶν
\ 4 va 4 x XP μ 3 \
ς
κατὰ πόλεις καὶ ὑποδρόμων λεωφόρους ἀνατεμὼν
>
Kal γνωρίσας ἡπειρώτας νησιώτας οὐκ ἄν ποτ᾽ εἰς
ἑαυτοὺς ἐλθόντας, εἰ μὴ σκάφος ἐναυπηγήθη" οὗτος
ὁ καὶ τῶν βαναύσων καὶ τῶν γλαφυρωτέρων τεχ-
336 νῶν λεγομένων εὑρετής" οὗτος γράμματα καὶ ἀριθ-
μοὺς καὶ μουσικὴν καὶ τὴν ἐγκύκλιον ἅπασαν
παιδείαν ἐπενόησε καὶ συνηύξησε καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος
@ 4
ἤγαγεν" οὗτος Kal TO μέγιστον ἀγαθόν, φιλοσοφίαν,
ἐγέννησε καὶ Ov ἑκάστου τῶν μερῶν αὐτῆς ὠφέλησε
a A \
τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, dua μὲν τοῦ λογικοῦ πρὸς
[268] ἀνεξα ’ ς ’ ὃ A de ~ rQ ~ Ἁ
πάτητον ἑρμηνείαν, διὰ | δὲ τοῦ ἠθικοῦ πρὸς
“- 4 “- “A
τὴν τῶν τρόπων ἐπανόρθωσιν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ φυσικοῦ
πρὸς ἐπιστήμην οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ κόσμου. καὶ ἄλλα
μέντοι παμπληθῆ λέγουσιν ἐ ἐγκώμια νοῦ συμφορή-
σαντές τε καὶ ἀγείραντες ἔχοντα" τὴν ἀναφορὰν € ἐπὶ
τὰ λεχθέντα ἤδη, περὶ ὧν οὐ καιρὸς ἐνοχλεῖν.
ς A ~ > 4 4 \
337 LXII. οἱ δὲ τῶν αἰσθήσεων προστάται τὸν
7 aA S “-
ἔπαινον αὐτῶν εὖ μάλα σεμνοποιοῦσι διανέμοντες
τῷ λόγῳ τὰς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐγγινομένας χρείας καὶ
[7 ij ~ “~ > 8
φασιν, ὅτι δύο μὲν αἴτια τοῦ ζῆν ἐστιν, ὄσφρησις καὶ
γεῦσις, δύο δὲ τοῦ καλῶς ζῆν, ὅρασις καὶ ἀκοή.

1 ΝΜ
MSS. ἔχοντες.

¢ Or (reading χερσαῖον as Heinemann, or perhaps χέρσου
ἴδιον as suggested by R’s xep.. . διον) ᾿ ‘turns the land-
creature man into one that floats or swims.” Heinemann
quotes very appositely Spec. Leg. iv. 155, where, in a passage
very similar to this, “the most incredible thing is that

ἡ χερσαία φύσις διὰ πλωτῆς οἵα τε ἢ περαιοῦσθαι.᾽" also De Op.
147, where man is said to be χερσαῖον ζῷον on land, and
ἔνυδρον when he sails in ships. The analogy with Spec. Leg.

296

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 335-337

naturally dry land into a waterway,* opened up in the
sea routes whose many branches serve as highways
to the havens and roadsteads of the different states,
and made the inhabitants of the mainland and those
of the islands known to each other, who would never
have met if a vessel had not been built. It is mind
which discovered the mechanical ὃ and the finer arts,
as they are called, which devised, fostered and brought 336
to their consummation letters and numbers and
music and the whole range of school studies. Mind
too was the parent of philosophy, the greatest of
blessings, and employed each part of it to benefit
human life, the logical to produce absolute exactitude
of language, the ethical for the amelioration of char-
acter, the physical to give knowledge of heaven and
the universe. And besides these they collect and
accumulate in honour of mind a vast number of
tributes to the same effect as those already mentioned,
with which we have no occasion to trouble ourselves
now. | LXII. The champions of the senses 337
sound their praises in lofty terms. They discuss and
classify them according to the purposes which they
serve and tell us that two, smell and taste, are the
basis of life, and two, sight and hearing, of good life.

is not quite exact as there πλωτῆς is passive, while here it
would be on Heinemann’s rendering active. His other
argument that dry land does not become a waterway might
be met by supposing that Philo is thinking of Xerxes’ canal
through Mount Athos, on which he enlarges in De Som.
ii. 118. He may not have known of any similar under-
taking, but it is quite in his manner to treat a single his-
torical example as a common occurrence.

> Or “ vulgar.”

¢ For the familiar triple division of philosophy see par-
ticularly Diog. Laert. vii. 39, and notes on Leg. All. 157 and
De Agr. 14.

297

998

339

340

341

PHILO

διὰ μὲν οὖν γεύσεως αἱ τῶν σιτίων τροφαὶ Tapa-
πέμπονται, διὰ δὲ μυκτήρων ὁ ἀήρ, οὗ πᾶν ζῷον
ἐξήρτηται": τροφὴ δ᾽ ἐστὶ καὶ οὗτος ἡ συνεχὴς καὶ
ἀδιάστατος, ὅς οὐκ ἐγρηγορότας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
κοιμωμένους διατρέφει τε καὶ διασῴζει" σαφὴς δὲ
πίστις: εἰ γὰρ κἂν βραχύτατον ὁ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς
δίαυλος ἐπισχεθείη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πεφυκότος ἔξωθεν
ἐποχετεύεσθαι πνεύματος ἀ ἀποκοπήν, θάνατος a ἁπαρ-
αίτητος ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐπακολουθήσει. τῶν
γε μὴν φιλοσόφων αἰσθήσεων, δι᾽ ὧν περιγίνεται τὸ
εὖ ζῆν, ὅρασις μὲν φῶς τὸ κάλλιστον ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν
ὁρᾷ, ὁρᾷ δὲ διὰ φωτὸς τἄλλα πάντα, ἥλιον, σελήνην,
ἀστέρας, οὐρανόν, γῆν, θάλατταν, φυτῶν καὶ ζῴων
ἀμυθήτους διαφοράς, καὶ συνόλως πάντα σώματα
καὶ σχήματα καὶ χρώματα καὶ μεγέθη, ὧν ἣ θέα
περιττὴν φρόνησιν ἐξειργάσατο καὶ πολὺν ἱ ἵμερον
ἐπιστήμης ἐγέννησε. “παρέχεται δὲ καὶ ἄνευ τού-
των ὠφελείας ὅρασις ἡμῖν τὰς μεγίστας, εἴς τε τὴν
οἰκείων καὶ ἀλλοτρίων καὶ φίλων καὶ ἐχθρῶν
διάκρισιν καὶ βλαβερῶν μὲν φυγήν, αἵρεσιν δὲ τῶν
ἐπ᾿ ὠφελείᾳ. γέγονε μὲν οὖν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ἕκαστον τοῦ σώματος μερῶν πρὸς ἁρμοττούσας
χρείας καὶ σφόδρα ἀναγκαίας, ὡς βάσεις μὲν πρὸς
περίπατον καὶ δρόμον καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα διὰ σκελῶν
ἐνεργεῖται, χεῖρες δὲ πρὸς τὸ πρᾶξαί τι καὶ δοῦναι
καὶ λαβεῖν: ὀφθαλμοὶ δὲ ὡσπερεί τι κοινὸν ἀγαθὸν
τὴν τοῦ δύνασθαι κατορθοῦν αἰτίαν καὶ τούτοις καὶ
τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι παρέχουσιν. ἀψευδέστατοι δ᾽ ot
πεπηρωμένοι μάρτυρες, οἵ μήτε χερσὶ μήτε ποσὶ
δύνανται χρῆσθαι κατὰ τὸ βέλτιον τὴν πρόσρησιν

@ Lit. “86 them in the better way,” 1.6. that in which
they could be used if supported by sight.

298

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 338-341

Taste acts as a conductor of the sustenance which 338
food gives, and the nostrils do the same for the air
on which every created being depends. Air too is a
means of sustenance, constant and unceasing, and
nourishes and preserves us not only when awake but
also while we sleep. We have a clear proof of this ;
for if the course of respiration backwards and forwards
is stopped ever so little by the interception of the
natural influx of breath from outside, death will
inexorably and inevitably follow. To 339
turn to the senses which minister to philosophy
and secure for us the good life, sight sees the
light which is the most beautiful of all that is
and by means of the light sees everything else,
sun, moon, stars, heaven, earth, sea, the countless
varieties of plants and animals, in general, all kinds
of bodies, shapes, colours and magnitudes, the con-
templation of which creates a subtle intelligence
and generates a great thirst for knowledge. But 340
apart from these benefits sight gives us others of
the highest value, by enabling us to distinguish
between kinsfolk and strangers, friends and enemies,
and to shun the harmful and choose the benefi-
cent. And while it is true that each of the other
members of the body has its appropriate and very
indispensable use, as the feet for walking and
running and the other activities to which the legs are
instrumental, and the hands for doing and giving and
receiving things, the eyes may be said to have a
common value and to create the conditions under
which these members and all the others can operate
successfully. The strongest testimony to this truth 341
is afforded by the blind, who cannot make the proper
use * of their hands or feet and thus verify the name

299

942

948

[264]

PHILO

ἐπαληθεύοντες, ἣν οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ὀνείδει μᾶλλον ἢ οἴκτῳ
θέσθαι φασὶ τοὺς πρότερον ἀδυνάτους ὀνομάσαντας"
ἅμα γὰρ τῇ τῶν ὀμμάτων φθορᾷ καὶ αἱ τοῦ σώ-
ματος δυνάμεις οὐχ ὑποσκελίζονται μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ
φθείρονται. θαυμασιώτατον δὲ καὶ ἀκοὴ χρῆμα,
dv ἧς μέλη καὶ μέτρα καὶ ῥυθμοί, ἔτι δὲ ἁρμονίαι
καὶ συμφωνίαι καὶ τῶν γενῶν καὶ συστημάτων αἱ
μεταβολαὶ καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα κατὰ μουσικὴν ἐπι-
κρίνεται, καὶ λόγων [τε] τῶν κατὰ διεξόδους [καὶ]
παμπληθεῖς ἰδέαι δικανικῶν συμβουλευτικῶν ἐγκω-
μιαστικῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἐν ἱστορίαις καὶ διαλόγοις
καὶ τῶν ἐν ὁμιλίαις ἀναγκαίαις περὶ τῶν ἐν βίῳ
πραγμάτων πρὸς τοὺς ἀεὶ πλησιάζοντας: συνόλως
γὰρ διὰ φωνῆς διττὴν ἐχούσης δύναμιν, εἴς τε τὸ
λέγειν καὶ τὸ ᾷδειν, ἑκάτερα τὰ ὦτα' διακρίνει πρὸς
ὠφέλειαν ψυχῆς: δὴ γὰρ καὶ λόγος ὑγιεινὰ καὶ
σωτήρια φάρμακα, ἡ μὲν τὰ πάθη κατεπάδουσα καὶ
τὸ ἄρρυθμον ἐν ἡμῖν ῥυθμοῖς, τὸ δ᾽ ἐκμελὲς μέλεσι,
τὸ δ᾽ ἄμετρον μέτροις ἐπιστομίζουσα---ποικίλον δ᾽
ἐστὶ καὶ παντοδαπὸν ἕκαστον, WS μουσικοὶ καὶ
ποιηταὶ μαρτυροῦσιν, οἷς | πιστεύειν ἀναγκαῖον
ἐπιτήδευμα τοῖς εὖ πεπαιδευμένοις---, ὁ δὲ λόγος
ἐπέχων καὶ ἀνακόπτων τὰς ἐπὶ κακίαν ὁρμὰς καὶ
τοὺς κεκρατημένους ἀφροσύναις καὶ ἀηδίαις ἐκ-
νοσηλεύων, μαλακώτερον μὲν τοὺς ὑπείκοντας,

1 mss. ταῦτα, which Cohn printed but corrected in his
Addenda (from the Armenian) to 7a dra.

* 2,6. in Attic law. See L. & S. (revised), which gives the
reference to Aristotle, ’A0. Πολ. 49. 4, where we have δοκιμάζει

300

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 341-343

of incapable? given to them in the past, more,
we are told, in pity than as a reproach. For when
the eyes are destroyed, the capacities of the body
are not merely overthrown, but actually perish. In 342
hearing too we have something very marvellous. By
means of it we distinguish melodies and metres and
rhythm, and with them the harmonies and conson-
ances, and the varieties of genera and systems? and all
the elements of music ; and again, the multitudinous
kinds of set speeches delivered in the law-courts, in
the senate, in laudations, as well as the language used
in historical narrative and dialogues and discussions
of matters of business which we are bound to have
with those with whom we come in contact from time
to time. For we may say in sum that the voice has
a twofold capacity for speech and song. Both these
are assessed by the ears to the benefit of the soul.
For both are medicaments, health-giving and life- 348
preserving. Song charms away the passions and
controls the irregular element in us with its rhythm,
the discordant with its melodies, the immoderate
with its measures. And each of these three assumes
every variety of form, as the musicians and poets
testify, belief in whom necessarily becomes habitual
in those who have received a good education. Speech
checks and hampers impulses to vice and effects the
cure of those in whom foolish and distressful thoughts
have gained the mastery. It deals more gently with

δὲ τοὺς ἀδυνάτους ἡ βουλή. It then appears that the term
includes paupers and τοὺς τὸ σῶμα πεπηρωμένους ὥστε μὴ
δύνασθαι μηδὲν ἔργον ἐργάζεσθαι. See also the oration of
Lysias 24, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀδυνάτου, where the defendant argues his
right to the privileges.

ὃ For the use of these words to translate γένη καὶ συστήματα
see note on De Som. i. 28.

301

944

345

PHILO

σφοδρότερον δὲ τοὺς ἀφηνιάζοντας, αἴτιος γίνεται
τῶν μεγίστων ὧφε ειῶν.

{ΧΠ|. Τοιαῦτα συνείροντες οἵ τε τοῦ νοῦ θια-
σῶται καὶ οἵ τῶν αἰσθήσεων οἱ μὲν ἐκεῖνον οἱ δὲ
ταύτας θεοπλαστοῦσιν ὑπὸ φιλαυτίας ἐκλαθόμενοι
τοῦ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὄντος θεοῦ. διὸ πάντας εἰκότως
ἀπήλασεν ἱεροῦ συλλόγου, τούς τε τὰς ἰδέας ἀν-
αἱροῦντας, “᾿ θλαδίας ᾿᾿ ὑπειπών, καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὸ
παντελὲς ἀθέους, οἷς ὄνομα οἰκεῖον τὸ “ ἀπο-
κόπων ᾿᾿ ἔθετο, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐναντίας εἰσηγητὰς
θεογονίας, οὗς ἐκάλεσεν * ἐκ πόρνης,᾽ καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι
τοὺς φιλαύτους, ὧν οἱ μὲν τὸν λογισμόν, οἵ δ᾽
ἑκάστην τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐξεθείωσαν" ἐπείγονται γὰρ
πάντες οὗτοι πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ τέλος, εἰ καὶ ἀπὸ δια-
φερόντων ὁ ἄγονται βουλευμάτων, τὸν ἕνα καὶ ὄντως
ὄντα θεὸν παρησυχάζοντες. ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς γε οἵ φοι-
τηταὶ καὶ γνώριμοι τοῦ προφήτου Μωυσέως τὴν
τοῦ ὄντος ζήτησιν οὐ μεθησόμεθα, τὴν ἐπιστήμην
αὐτοῦ τέλος εὐδαιμονίας εἶναι νομίζοντες καὶ ζωὴν
μακραίωνα, καθὰ καὶ ὁ νόμος φησὶ τοὺς προσ-
κειμένους τῷ θεῷ ζῆν ἅπαντας, δόγμα τιθεὶς
ἀναγκαῖον καὶ φιλόσοφον. ὁ ὄντως γὰρ ot μὲν ἄθεοι
τὰς ψυχὰς τεθνᾶσιν, ot δὲ τὴν παρὰ τῷ ὄντι θεῷ
τεταγμένοι τάξιν οὐδ άνασὸν βίον ζῶσιν.

* As their particular name (to distinguish them from the
θλάδιαι).
> See Deut. iv. 4. The. meaning of the original is that

302

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I. 343-345

the docile, more drastically with the rebellious, and
thus becomes the source of the greatest possible
benefits.

LXIII. Such is the chain of argument which leads
the votaries of mind and the votaries of the senses
to ascribe divinity to their respective idols, forgetting
in their self-assertion the God Who truly exists. And
therefore Moses naturally banished them all from the
holy congregation, both those who abolish the Forms,
who appear under the name of “ the crushed,” and
those who absolutely deny God, to whom he assigned
the suitable® title of “‘the mutilated’’ and those
who preach the opposite doctrine of a family of gods,
called by him “ the children of the harlot,” and finally
the self-assertive, one party of whom deify the reason,
the other each several sense. For these last all press
to the same goal, though influenced by different plans
for attaining it, and ignore the one and really existing
God. But we, the scholars and disciples of Moses,
will not forgo our quest of the Existent, holding that
the knowledge of Him is the consummation of happi-
ness. It is also agelong life. The law tells us that
all who “ cleave to God live,’’® and herein it lays down
a vital doctrine fraught with much wisdom. For in
very truth the godless are dead in soul, but those who
have taken service in the ranks of the God Who only
Is are alive, and that life can never die.

those who cleave to God when the others followed Baal-Peor

are alive to-day. Philo gives this general meaning to the
text in De Fug. 56 also.

303

344

345

INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, II

The Third Commandment (1-38).

While swearing at all is to be deprecated, since the simple
word should be enough, to swear by parents or heaven and
the like is better than using God’s name (1-5), which many
do recklessly (6-8). When swearing is necessary the oath
must be performed, if it can be lawfully (9). To call God to
witness a falsehood is impious (10-11). Criminal or vindic-
tive oaths, however, should not be performed (12-17). Philo
then condemns the arrogant swearing of the extravagant
rich and contrasts them with others who though rich live
simply (18-23). He discusses vows and particularly the rule
by which widows, unlike virgins and wives, cannot cancel a
vow (24-25). This is susceptible of an allegorical interpre-
tation (28-31). This is interrupted by 26-27, which returns to
the subject of perjury and the penalties for the perjuror and
his accomplices. The Pentateuchal regulations for assessing
votive offerings are then discussed, when the votary offers
(a) himself (32-34), (Ὁ) an animal (35-36), (6) a house (37-38).

The Fourth Commandment (39-222).

Philo begins with a sketch of the way in which he proposes
to treat the subject (39), followed by some remarks on the
sacred number Seven (41), and a list of the ten feasts (41).

The first feast is the feast of every day. This conception,
that the ideal life of the true philosopher is one continuous
feast, is worked out with much eloquence (42-49). For its
scriptural foundation see note on § 45.

The second feast, the Sabbath itself, after some further
remarks on the mystical properties of Seven (56-59), is set
forth partly as a necessary respite from toil (60), but still
more as a time for exercising the soul in contrast to the body
(61-64). The prohibition of fire (65), and the extension of
the rest to servants (65-68), and to cattle (69-70) are noted.
With the Sabbath we may associate other institutions which
bear witness to the sanctity of Seven: (a) the cancellation of
debts in the seventh year (71-73), and this leads to a de-
nunciation of lending money on interest in general (74-78) ;
(6) liberation of slaves in the same year, which provides an
occasion for the lesson of treating slaves humanely (79-85) ;
(c) the same lesson that consideration should be shewn not
only by masters to servants, but by rulers to subjects is
taught by the “‘ sabbatical year,” which leaves the land fallow

304

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II

in the seventh year (86-103), and also by throwing the fields
open encourages generosity to the poor (104-109); (d) the
same applies to the fiftieth year, in which estates return to
the original owners (110-115), with special regulations about
houses (116-121) and debtors and purchased slaves (122-123).
This is followed by some general remarks (for the connexion
see note on § 124) about the laws of inheritance (124-132),
and the right of primogeniture (133-139).

The third feast is the New Moon, and some observations
on the place of the moon in the system of things is subjoined
(140-144). Fourth is the Passover, a feast in which each
layman acts as priest, interpreted by Philo as the ‘‘ Crossing ”
from the passions to wisdom (145-149). Fifth is “ Unleavened
Bread,” and reasons are given for the time at which it occurs
and the nature of the food enjoined (150-161). Sixth, the
offering of the ‘‘ Sheaf,” is combined with the two just men-
tioned. Philo takes this first offering of the harvest in the
double aspect of a thank-offering, (a) for the whole world
(162-167), and (6) for Israel, acknowledging how much the
harvest owes to nature rather than man (168-175).

Seventh is the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (179-187).
Kighth is the opening of the sacred month, or Feast of Trum-
pets (188-192). Ninth the Fast or Day of Atonement (193-
203). ‘Tenth the Feast of Tabernacles (204-214). All these
are accompanied by a number of reflections on their origin
and significance. Besides these there is the rite of offering
the “‘ Basket,” for which no date can be fixed (215-222).

The Fifth Commandment (223-241).

The claims of parents are justified on the grounds that
their position as Creators is analogous to that of God, and
that they are the seniors, the benefactors, the rulers and
the absolute masters or owners of their children (223-236).
But the commandment also enjoins respect to age in general
(237-238), and also the duty of parents to avoid undue
indulgence (239-241).

The treatise concludes with declaring death to be the
appropriate punishment for disobedience, to the Fifth (242-
248), the Fourth (249-251), the Third (252-254), the Second
and First (255-256). The rewards for obedience, except the
Fifth, for which a definite reward is mentioned, are to be
found in the thought that virtue is its own reward (257-262).

For Cohn’s Numeration of Chapters see Gen. Int. p. xviii.

VOL. VII Χ 305

ΠΕΡῚ TON ANA®EPOMENON ἘΝ ΕἸΔΕῚ
NOMON ΕΙΣ TPIA ΓΈΝΗ TON AEKA
ΛΟΓΊΩΝ, TO TPITON, TO TETAPTON, TO
ΠΈΜΠΤΟΝ: TO ΠΕΡῚ EYOPKIA> KAT
XEBAXZMOY ΤῊΣ IEPAX EBAOMH®: KAI
TONEON ΤΙΜΗΣ

[270] :

1 I. Ἔν μὲν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης συντάξει δύο κεφάλαια
ἠκρίβωται τῶν δέκα, τό τε περὶ τοῦ μὴ νομίζειν
θεοὺς αὐτοκρατεῖς ἑτέρους καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν
θεοπλαστεῖν χειρόκμητον" εἴρηται δὲ καὶ τὰ ἑκα-
τέρῳ τῶν κατὰ μέρος διατεταγμένων ἁρμόττοντα
νόμιμα. νυνὶ δὲ περὶ τριῶν τῶν κατὰ στοῖχον ἑξῆς
διαλεξώμεθα πάλιν ἐφαρμόττοντες τὰ προσήκοντα

2 τῶν ἐν εἴδει. πρῶτον δ᾽ ἐστὶ τῶν τριῶν
τὸ μὴ θεοῦ ὄνομα λαμβάνειν ἐπὶ ματαίῳ. ὁ γὰρ
τοῦ σπουδαίου, φησί, λόγος ὅρκος ἔστω, βέβαιος,
ἀκλινής, ἀψευδέστατος, ἐρηρεισμένος ἀληθείᾳ. κἂν
εἰ ὀμνύναι μέντοι βιάζοιντο at χρεῖαι, πατρὸς ἢ

[271] μητρὸς ζώντων μὲν ὑγείαν καὶ εὐετηρίαν, | τετελευ-
τηκότων δὲ τὴν μνήμην ὅρκον ποιητέον" ἀπεικο-
νίσματα γὰρ οὗτοί γε καὶ μιμήματα θείας δυνάμεώς
εἰσι, τοὺς μὴ ὄντας εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγόντες.

906

BOOK II

ON THE SPECIAL LAWS WHICH FALL UNDER THREE OF
THE TEN GENERAL COMMANDMENTS, NAMELY THE
THIRD ON THE DUTY OF KEEPING OATHS,® THE
FOURTH ON REVERENCING THE SEVENTH DAY, AND
THE FIFTH ON HONOURING PARENTS

I. In the preceding treatise we have dealt fully 1
with two of the ten heads, one directed against the
acknowledgement of other sovereign gods, the other
against giving divine honours to any work of men’s
hands. And we have described such among the
particular enactments of the law as may be properly
classed under either head. Let us now discuss the
three next in the list, again subjoining those of the
special ordinances which belong to them.

The first of the three forbids us to take God's name 2
in vain: the good man’s word, it means, should be
an oath, firm, unswerving, utterly free from falsehood,
securely planted on truth. And if indeed occasion
should force us to swear, the oath should be by a
father and mother, their good health and welfare if
they are alive, their memory if they are dead. For
parents are copies and likenesses of the divine power,
since they have brought the non-existent into exist-

* As the sequel shews, a very inadequate term to describe
§§ 1-38.

307

PHILO

8 ἀναγέγραπταΐ τις ἐν τοῖς νόμοις τῶν ἀρχηγετῶν
καὶ ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ μάλιστα θαυμασθέντων ὀμνὺς “κατὰ
τοῦ φόβου τοῦ πατρός, ὑπὲρ ὠφελείας, οἶμαι, τῶν
ἔπειτα καὶ διδαχῆς ἀναγκαίας, ἵνα τοὺς γονεῖς ὃν
χρὴ τρόπον τιμῶσι στέργοντες ὡς εὐεργέτας καὶ
εὐλαβούμενοι ὡς ὑπὸ φύσεως κατασταθέντας dp-
χοντας καὶ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἐπιχειρῶσιν ὀνομάζειν θεόν.

4 ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν καὶ τούς, εἴ ποτε βιασθεῖεν ὀμνύναι,
τῷ μέλλειν καὶ βραδύνειν καὶ ἀποκνεῖν ἐμποιοῦντας
δέος οὐ μόνον τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς προκαλου-
μένοις εἰς τὸν ὅρκον" εἰώθασι “γὰρ ἀναφθεγξάμενοι
τοσοῦτον μόνον “᾿ νὴ tov” ἢ “ μὰ TOV,” μηδὲν
προσπαραλαβόντες, ἐμφάσει τῆς ἀποκοπῆς τρανοῦν

ὅ ὅρκον οὐ γενόμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ προσπαραλαβέτω
τις, εἰ βούλεται, μὴ μέντοι τὸ ἀνωτάτω καὶ πρεσ-
βύτατον εὐθὺς αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ γῆν, ἥλιον, ἀστέρας,
οὐρανόν, τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον: ἀξιολογώτατα γὰρ
ταῦτα ἅτε καὶ πρεσβύτερα τῆς ἡμετέρας γενέσεως
καὶ προσέτι ἀγήρω διαιωνιοῦντα τῇ τοῦ πεποιη-

4 ’ 4 4

6 κότος γνώμῃ. ; : 11. τοσαύτῃ δέ τινες
εὐχερείᾳ καὶ ῥαθυμίᾳ χρῶνται, ὥστε τὰ ἐν γενέσει
πάντα ταῦθ᾽ ὑπερβάντες ἐπὶ τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα
τῶν ὅλων ἀνατρέχειν τῷ λόγῳ τολμῶσι, μὴ τόπους
εἰ βέβηλοι ἢ ἱεροί, μὴ καιροὺς εἰ ἐπιτήδειοι, μὴ
αὑτοὺς εἰ καθαροὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν, μὴ τὰ πράγ-
ματα εἰ μεγάλα, μὴ τὰς χρείας εἶ ἀναγκαῖαι
προεξετάσαντες, ἀλλά, τὸ λεγόμενον δὴ τοῦτο,

α 4.e. Jacob, see Gen. xxxi. ὅ8. ‘‘ The fear” really means
(see v. 42) the God whom Isaac feared; so in R.V. it is
printed “ Fear.’ Philo evidently takes it to mean Jacob’s
own fear of Isaac.

ὃ See App. p. 624.

¢ ἐμφάσει is used in the rhetorical sense of the significance

308

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 3-6

ence. In the laws we read of one of our first founders,* 3
who are particularly admired for their wisdom, that
he swore by the fear of his father, a fact recorded,
I believe, for the benefit of posterity and to teach
them the necessary lesson that they should honour
their parents in the proper way by showing affection
to them as benefactors and awe of them as rulers
appointed by nature, and should not lightly essay
to use the name of God. Those persons too deserve 4
praise whose unwillingness, tardiness and shrinking,
if they. are ever forced to swear, raise qualms not only
in the spectators but even in those who are admin-
istering the oath: such people are in the habit of
saying ‘‘ Yes, by — ” or ‘No, by—’’? and add nothing
more, and by thus breaking off suggest° the clear
sense of an oath without actually making it. But 5
also a person may add to his “ Yes” or “No” if he
wish, not indeed the highest and most venerable and
primal cause, but earth, sun, stars, heaven, the whole
universe. For these are worthy of highest respect,
since they have precedence in time over our place
in creation, and also will remain for ever untouched
by age according to the purpose of Him Who made
them. II. But so great is the lightness 6
and heedlessness shown by some that they pass by
all these works of creation and allow their words to
dash on to the Maker and Father of all, never staying
to examine whether the place is profane or holy,
whether the occasion is suitable, whether they them-
selves are pure in body and soul, whether the busi-
ness is important or the object necessary. Instead,
conveyed by the ἀποκοπή. Heinemann’s translation ‘“ and
so suddenly break off their affirmation so that the oath is not

actually effected ’’ misses the full meaning.
¢ Contrast Matthew v. 34 f.

309

PHILO

¢ >) fF \ 9) 4 4 e 4 3
ἀνίπτοις χερσὶ ᾿᾿ πάντα φύροντες, ὡς δέον, ἐπει-
A ~ e 4 9 A 3 ᾽ 4
δὴ γλῶτταν ἡ φύσις αὐτοῖς ἐδωρήσατο, λελυμένῃ
7 χρῆσθαι καὶ ἀχαλινώτῳ πρὸς a μὴ θέμις" οὗς ἐχρῆν
ὀργάνων τῷ καλλίστῳ, ᾧ φωνὴ καὶ λόγος τὰ
βιωφελέστατα καὶ κοινωνίας αἴτια τετράνωται,
πρὸς τιμὴν καὶ σεμνότητα καὶ εὐδαιμονισμὸν κατα-
“- A ~ Y
8 χρῆσθαι τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου. νυνὶ δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῆς ayav
ἀσεβείας περὶ ὧν ἂν τύχῃ τὰς φρικωδεστάτας
3 4 4 \ »” > > + 3 4
ὀνομάζουσι κλήσεις καὶ ἄλλα ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις ἐπιφέροντες
ὀνόματα σωρηδὸν οὐκ ἐρυθριῶσι, νομίζοντες τῇ
πυκνότητι καὶ τῷ συνεχεῖ τῶν ἐπαλλήλων ὅρκων
ea A
οὗ διανοοῦνται περιέσεσθαι, λίαν ὄντες εὐήθεις" οὐ
γὰρ πίστεως ἡ πολυορκία τεκμήριον ἀλλ᾽ ἀπιστίας
ἐστὶ παρὰ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν.
9 III. Ἐὰν δέ τις ἐκβιασθεὶς ὀμόσῃ περὶ παντὸς
[272] οὑτινοσοῦν, ὃ μὴ νόμος | ἀπείρηκε, παντὶ σθένει καὶ
Ld 4
μηχανῇ πάσῃ τὸν ὅρκον βεβαιούτω μηδὲν ἐμποδὼν
\
τιθέμενος εἰς τὴν τοῦ γνωσθέντος τελείωσιν, Kal
4 > \ \ > \ 3 4 av /
μάλιστα ἐπειδὰν μὴ ὀργαὶ ἀτίθασοι ἢ λελυττηκότες
ἔρωτες ἢ ἐπιθυμίαι ἀκάθεκτοι τὴν διάνοιαν ἐκμήνω-
σιν, ὡς ἀγνοῆσαι τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ πραττόμενα,
A 4 VA “A
λογισμῷ δὲ Kat διανοίᾳ νηφούσῃ ποιῆται τὸν ὅρκον.
/ A BA a“ > ὃ “"Ἐ 9 5A \ 4 |
10 τί yap ἄμεινον ἢ ἀψευδεῖν παρ᾽ ὅλον τὸν βίον καὶ
los 4 ~ 4 Ψ \
ταῦτα μάρτυρι θεῷ χρώμενον; ὅρκος yap οὐδὲν

@ Jl. vi. 266 “1 fear to pour ἃ libation to Zeus with un-
washed hands.”’

> Lit. ‘causes’ in antithesis to the “cause” below. But
in English we can hardly call δὰ words ἡ the “ cause of fellow-
ship.” I have introduced “creators” and “‘ created ’’ to pre-
serve something of the antithesis. |

© καὶ ταῦτα, “ and that too,” is difficult. The natural mean-

310

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 6-10

with unwashed hands,“ as the phrase goes, they make
a foul brew of everything, as though Nature’s gift
of a tongue justified them in using it without

restraint or bridle for unlawful purposes, whereas 7

that most excellent of instruments which gives clear
expression to voice and words, those great bene-
factors of human life and creators? of a sense of fellow-
ship, should have been employed to the full by them

to ascribe honour and majesty and blessedness to

the Cause Which has created all things. As it is, so 8

highly impious are they that on any chance matter
the most tremendous titles are on their lips and they
do not blush to use name after name, one piled upon
another, thinking that the continual repetition of a
string of oaths will secure them their object. A very
foolish delusion. For in the eyes of sensible people
much swearing is a proof, not of good faith, but of
faithlessness.

III. But if anyone has been absolutely compelled 9

to swear on any matter whatever, so long as it is not
forbidden by the law, he should use all his strength
and every means in his power to make good his oath,
and allow nothing to hinder him from carrying out
his decision, particularly when he has taken the oath
in a reasonable and sober frame of mind, not dis-
traught by savage tempers or frenzied yearnings or
uncontrollable desires, so that he does not know what
he says or does. For what is better than to practise
a lifelong veracity, and to have God as our witness
thereto?¢ For an oath is nothing else than to call

ing is that having taken God as our witness enhances the
excellence of keeping to the truth. But this contradicts what
he has said against swearing at all. Perhaps in this sentence
he passes for a moment from oaths to vows, 2.6. from swearing
by God to swearing to God.

311

10

11

12

13

PHILO

3 a ’ “Ἠ \ ᾽ 9
ἄλλο ἢ μαρτυρία θεοῦ περὶ πράγματος ἀμφισβητου-
’ A δὲ A > 9 1A θ “1 λ A . 9) 9
μένου: θεὸν δὲ μὴ ἐπ᾽ ἀληθεῖ" καλεῖν πάντων ἀν-
οσιώτατον. ὃ γὰρ τοῦτο ποιῶν μόνον οὐκ ἄντικρυς
A “Ἵ"λ \ “A A A
βοᾷ, κἂν ἡσυχάζειν δοκῇ" ‘ σοὶ χρῶμαι τοῦ ἀδικεῖν
προκαλύμματι: αἰδουμένῳ μοι τὸ δοκεῖν ἁμαρτάνειν
A ,
συνέργησον, ἀντ᾽ ἐμοῦ πονηρευομένου τὴν αἰτίαν
e 4 4 4 “--Ψ A 4
ὑπόστηθι: μέλει yap μοι πλημμελοῦντι μὴ φαύλῳ
’ A A A \ A A 4
νομίζεσθαι: od δὲ τῆς παρὰ Tots πολλοῖς δόξης
> a 9 A 9 ’ 9 4 2) Φ
ἀλογεῖς οὐδὲν εὐφημίας ἐπιστρεφόμενος.᾽᾽ ἅπερ
\ A A
καὶ λέγειν καὶ ἐννοεῖσθαι ἀσεβέστατον: ayava-
ὔ A Lid 4 ’
κτήσαι γὰρ ἂν οὐχ ὅτι θεὸς ὁ πάσης κακίας ἀ-
’ὔ 3 A A \ \ 9 “ ”
μέτοχος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατὴρ Kat ὀθνεῖος avOpwrros
A , A > A ,
μὴ τελείως ἀρετῆς ἄγευστος, εἰ τοιαῦτα ἀκούοι.
Π 4 A On . e 3 4
dvras μὲν οὖν ὅρκους, ws ἔφην, βεβαιωτέον,
2 \ A \ , ,
ὅσοι περὶ καλῶν καὶ συμφερόντων γίνονται πρὸς
3: 4 3 \ “
ἐπανόρθωσιν ἰδίων ἢ κοινῶν πραγμάτων, φρονή-
σεως καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ὁσιότητος ἡγουμένων ---
’ \ “ ww
IV. τούτοις ἐμφέρονται καὶ τῶν εὐχῶν at νομι-
’ “A δ
μώταται διὰ περιουσίαν ἀγαθῶν ἢ παρόντων 7
προσδοκωμένων γινόμεναι---, τοὺς δ᾽ ἕνεκα τῶν
ἐναντίων ἐπικυροῦν οὐκ εὐαγές. εἰσὶ γὰρ ot ὁμ-
4 3.4 4 Α Ve 4 av \
νύουσιν, ἐὰν τύχῃ, κλοπὰς Kal ἱεροσυλίας ἢ φθορὰς
Δ [4 ~
καὶ μοιχείας ἢ τραύματα καὶ σφαγὰς ἢ τι TOV
“A 3 Ul
ὁμοιοτρόπων κακῶν ἐργάσεσθαι," καὶ ἀνυπερθέτως
αὐτὰ δρῶσι ποιούμενοι πρόφασιν τὸ εὐορκεῖν, ὡς
9 3 4 A ~ ᾽ “ἐ “ 9
οὐκ ἄμεινον" καὶ θεῷ κεχαρισμένον μᾶλλον τῆς (ov)

1 mss. ἀληθεία (= ἀληθείᾳ). 2 MSS. ἐργάσασθαι.
3 ὡς οὐκ ἄμεινον <dv> would, I think, be more usual Greek.
Cf. De Dec. 92.

312

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 10-13

God to bear witness in a disputed matter, but to call
God to witness to a falsehood is the very height of
profanity. To do so is practically to say outright, 11
even though one appear not to utter a word, “ I take
Thee as a cloak for my wrongdoing. I am ashamed
to appear a sinner, be Thou my accomplice ; take the
chargeof my villainy upon Thyself insteadofme. For
it is a matter of weight to me in my wickedness not
to be thought a rogue, but Thou carest not for the
opinion of the multitude and troublest not that men
should speak well of Thee.”’ Such words or thoughts
are impious in the extreme. To hear them would
rouse the indignation, not only of God, Who is ex-
empt from all wickedness, but also of a father or even
a stranger who knew anything at all of the flavour
of virtue.

So then, as I have said, all oaths must be made good 12
so long as they are concerned with matters honour-
able and profitable for the better conduct of public
or private affairs and are subject to the guidance of
wisdom and justice and righteousness, IV. under
which head come also the perfectly lawful vows made
in acknowledgement of an abundant measure of
blessings either present or expected. But when the
oaths have objects of the opposite kind in view,
religion forbids us to put them into execution. For 13
there are some who swear at random’ to commit acts
of theft and sacrilege or rape and adultery or assaults
and murders or other similar crimes and carry them
out without hesitation on the pretext that they must
be faithful to their oaths, as though it were not better
and more pleasing to God to abstain from wrong-

* Or “as opportunity offers.”
313

PHILO

παραβάσεως! τῶν ὅρκων τὸ μηδὲν ἀδικεῖν, ἐπεὶ
δικαιοσύνη καὶ πᾶσα ἀρετὴ νόμος ἐστὶ πάτριος καὶ
θεσμὸς ἀρχαῖος" νόμοι δὲ καὶ θεσμοὶ τί ἕτερον ἢ

’ ς 3 4 \ 4 \ 3 4 3
ὕσεως ἱεροὶ λόγοι τὸ βέβαιον καὶ τὸ πάγιον ἐξ
14 αὑτῶν ἔχοντες, ὡς ὅρκων ἀδιαφορεῖν; ἴστω δὴ πᾶς
ἐνωμότως ἀδικα δρῶν, ὅτι εὐορκεῖ μὲν οὔ, τὸν δὲ
πολλῆς φυλακῆς καὶ ἐπιμελείας ἄξιον ὅρκον ἀνα-
τρέπει, ᾧ τὰ καλὰ καὶ δίκαια ἐπισφραγίζεται:
προστίθησι “γὰρ ὑπαίτια ὑπαιτίοις, ἐν οὐ δέοντι
[273] γινομένοις ὅρκοις, οὗς πολὺ | βέλτιον ἢ ἦν ἡσυχάζε-
15 σθαι, πράξεις παρανόμους. ἀπεχόμενος οὖν τοῦ
ἀδικοπραγεῖν ποτνιάσθω τὸν θεόν, ἵνα μεταδῷ τῆς

ω 4 9 “- AY 3.895 Φ 9 4
ἵλεω δυνάμεως αὐτῷ συγγνοὺς ἐφ᾽ ols ἀβουλίᾳ
χρησάμενος ὦμοσε'" διπλάσια γὰρ αἱρεῖσθαι κακά,
υνάμενον τὴν ἡμίσειαν αὐτῶν ἀποφορτίδασθαι,
4 4 > \ 3

16 μανία καὶ φρενοβλάβεια δυσίατος. εἰσὶ ὃ
οἱ τὴν φύσιν ἄμικτοι καὶ ἀκοινώνητοι. δι᾽ ὑπερ-
βολὴν μισανθρωπίας γεγονότες ἢ καὶ ὑπ᾽ ὀργῆς οἷα
χαλεπῆς δεσποίνης ἐκβιασθέντες ὅρκῳ τὴν ἀγριό-
τῆητα πιστοῦνται τῶν ἠθῶν, οἵτινες οὔ φασιν
ὁμοτράπεζον ἢ ὁμωρόφιον ἕξειν τὸν δεῖνα ἢ τὸν
δεῖνα ἢ πάλιν τῷ δεῖνι μὴ παρέξειν ὠφέλειάν τινα ἢ
3 3 ’ ’ὔ ’ “- 3 9

παρ᾽ ἐκείνου τι λήψεσθαι μέχρι τελευτῆς" ἔστι ὃ

4 \ ‘ \ Ἁ \ 3 4 4
OTE καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν TO ἀσύμβατον διαφυλάτ-
1 Cohn following Mangey prints for the τῆς παραβάσεως of
the mss. βεβαιώσεως. I have hesitated in making the cor-
rection printed above, because it seems strange that anything
so obvious should have escaped Mangey, Cohn, Heinemann
and others. But I can see nothing against it. The double
negative is rather effective than otherwise. The omission of
the negative in the mss. of Philo is common (see in this
treatise §§ 129, 132), and Philo was no doubt familiar with

the use of ov with a substantive, as τὴν τῶν γεφυρῶν... ov
διάλυσιν in Thuc. i. 137 and elsewhere.

314

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 13-16

doing than to abstain from breaking their oaths.
Justice and every virtue are commanded by the law
of our ancestors and by a statute established of old,
and what else are laws and statutes but the sacred
words of Nature, possessing intrinsically a fixity and
stability which makes them equivalent to oaths?
And everyone who commits a wrong because he has
sworn to do so may be assured that the act is not one
of faithfulness to a pledge but breaks the oath so
worthy of all careful observance with which she sets
her seal 5 on what is just and excellent. For he adds
guilt to guilt when oaths taken for improper purposes
which had better have been left unspoken are fol-
lowed by actions which violate the law. Let him
abstain, then, from wrongful conduct and supplicate
God, that He may grant him a share of what His
gracious power can give and pardon him for what he
has sworn so unadvisedly. For to choose a double
measure of ill when he could disburden himself of the
half of it is the act of one almost hopelessly imbecile
and insane. But there are some who, either
because through excessive moroseness their nature
has lost the sense of companionship and fellow-feeling
or because they are constrained by anger which rules
them like a stern mistress, confirm the savagery of
their temper with an oath. They declare that they
will not admit such and such a person to their board
or under their roof, or again, that they will not render
assistance to so and so or accept anything from him
till his life’ssend. Sometimes they carry on their
vindictiveness after that end has come and leave

α 1 take φύσις to be the subject of émodpayilera. Heine-
mann takes the verb as passive, but I can find no example of
this.

315

17

18

19

PHILO

A aA >
τουσιν οὐδὲ νεκροῖς τοῖς σώμασιν ἐπιτρέποντες ἐν
διαθήκαις' τὰ νομιζόμενα παρασχεῖν. οἷς παρ-
αινέσαιμι ἂν καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς προτέροις, εὐχαῖς

\ ’ 3 ’ \. ’ id 4 ’
καὶ θυσίαις ἐξευμενίζεσθαι τὸν θεόν, ἵνα εὕρωνταί

A ’
τινα ψυχικῶν ἀρρωστημάτων θεραπείαν ἀναγκαίαν,
ἃ μηδεὶς ἀνθρώπων ἱκανὸς ἰάσασθαι.

V. Ἕτεροι δ᾽ εἰσὶ κομπασταὶ τῶν ὑπ᾽ ἀλαζονείας
φυσωμένων," ot λιμοδοξοῦντες οὐδενὶ τῶν εἰς τὴν
3 ’ὔ 3 oh A “- > \
ὠφελιμωτάτην ὀλιγοδεΐαν χρῆσθαι δικαιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ
κἂν προτρέπῃ τις ἕνεκα τοῦ τὸν ἀφηνιασμὸν τῶν
ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀναχαιτίσαι, τὴν νουθεσίαν ὕβριν εἶναι

’ \ \ \ ε ’ 9 ’ὔ ’
νομίζουσι καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἁβροδίαιτον ὠθούμενοι βίον
ἀλογοῦσι τῶν σωφρονιστῶν, γέλωτα καὶ χλεύην
τιθέμενοι τὰς φρονήσεως καλὰς ὁμοῦ καὶ λυσιτελε-
στάτας ὑφηγήσεις. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τύχοι τις εἶναι

~ ’ /
περιουσία καὶ ἀφθονία τῶν περὶ τὸν βίον, ὅρκοις
3 , A A A 3
ἐπισφραγίζονται τὴν χρῆσιν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν τῶν εἰς
πολυτέλειαν" οἷον δή τι λέγω: πρῴην τις τῶν οὐκ
ὀλίγα κεκτημένων ὑγρὸν καὶ διαρρέοντα βίον a dora
σάμενος, ἐπειδὴ πρεσβύτης παρὼν συγγενὴς 7
πατρικὸς ὥς γ᾽ οἶμαι φίλος ἐνουθέτει πρὸς τὸ

: 4
σεμνότερον Kal αὐστηρότερον τὴν δίαιταν παρα-

καλῶν μεταβαλεῖν, τὴν παραίνεσιν οὐ μετρίως
υσχεράνας ὥὦμοσεν ἀντιφιλονεικῶν, ἕως ἂν τὰς

1 Mangey preferred θήκαις. See note a.

2 Cohn regards τῶν .. . φυσωμένων as corrupt, and
Heinemann would expunge κομπασταὶ as a gloss, but see
note 6.

Ὁ Mangey’ 8 suggestion | of θήκαις (or ταῖς θήκαις Ὁ) for δια-
θήκαις, ἐ.6. “in the tomb” is tempting. That the implacable
man should take steps to insure that when he himself is dead
his enemy should suffer after hzs death, seems rather absurd.

316

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 16-19

directions in their wills* against even granting the

customary rites to his corpse. To such persons I 17

would give the advice which I gave to the former
class, that they should propitiate God with prayers
and sacrifices to win from Him what their needs
demand, namely, the healing treatment of their
spiritual distempers which no human power is com-
petent to cure.

V. But there are others, boastful persons,® of the
sort that is puffed up by arrogance, who in their
craving for high position determine to have nothing
to do in any way with the frugal, the truly profitable
mode of living. Indeed, if any rebuke them in
order to rein in the unruliness of their desires, they
regard the admonition as an insult, and as they press
forward to a career of luxury disregard their cor-
rectors and hold the admirable and also highly valu-
able instructions of wisdom a matter for laughter and
mockery. And if they happen to have some abund-
ance of resources and means of living on a lavish
scale, they employ oaths to set the seal on their use
and enjoyment of the wealth which enables them to
spend so freely. Here is an instance of what I mean.
A short time ago a man of considerable property who
had found a loose and dissipated style of living to
his taste, was in the presence of an elderly person,
a relation or old family friend, I believe, who was
reproving him and advising him to make a change
and conduct himself with more strictness and serious-
ness. The other strongly resented this reproof and
countered the challenge by swearing that so long as

ὃ Cohn’s difficulty seems to me imaginary. I understand
the κομπασταί to be persons who falk in the truculent
manner described below. But this is not necessarily true of
all who are “ puffed up by arrogance.”

317

—

8

20

[274]

21

22

PHILO

Y4 \ ᾽ὔ
χορηγίας ἔχῃ καὶ παρασκευάς, μηδενὶ χρήσεσθαι
τῶν εἰς εὐτέλειαν, μὴ κατὰ πόλιν, μὴ κατ᾽ ἀγρούς,
μὴ πλέων, μὴ πεζεύων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀεὶ καὶ πανταχοῦ τὸν

“- 3 ’ὔ , A af}? e
πλοῦτον ἐπιδείξεσθαι. πλούτου δὲ ταῦθ᾽, ws
3᾽ ϑ ’ 9 ” “- a“ 9 ’ \
ἔοικεν, ἐπίδειξις οὐκ ἔστι μᾶλλον ἢ ἀλαζονείας καὶ
ἀκρασίας. καίτοι τῶν ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις
ἡγεμονίαις οὐκ ὀλίγοι μέχρι νῦν εἰσιν οἱ παμπλη-

A ,
θεῖς ἔχοντες παρασκευὰς καὶ χορηγίας ἀφθόνους,
/ 3 “A e
ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀενάου τινὸς πηγῆς πλούτου ῥέοντος
αὐτοῖς ἀδιαστάτως, ὅμως ἐφ᾽ ἃ καὶ οἱ πένητες
ἡμεῖς ἔστιν ὅτε τρέπονται, κεραμεᾶς κύλικας καὶ
9 ’ 3 \ 93 4 “ A “Ἃ ’
ὀβελίας ἄρτους καὶ ἐλαίας ἢ τυρὸν 7) λάχανα | προσ-
4 4 A A
ὄψημα, Kal θέρους μὲν περίζωμα καὶ λεπτὴν
ὀθόνην, χειμῶνος δὲ χλαῖναν ἀρραγῆ καὶ ,στιφρὰν
καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν κοίτην ἔστιν ὅτε χαμαίστρωτα,
πολλὰ χαίρειν φράσαντες κλίναις ἐλεφαντίναις 7
χελώνης ἢ χρυσοῦ πεποιημέναις καὶ στρωμναῖς
3 “. ε ’
ἀνθοβαφέσι καὶ ἐσθῆσιν ἁλουργίσι καὶ πεμμάτων
μελιπήκτων περιεργίαις καὶ τραπεζῶν πολυτελείαις.
“ ’
αἴτιον δ᾽ οὐ μόνον, οἶμαι, τὸ φύσεως αὐτοὺς εὖὐ-
’ A 3 Ἁ \ \ 4 9 ~ 3
μοίρου λαχεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ παιδείας ὀρθῆς ἐκ

’ e ’ 3 / Φ 9 ’ A “-
πρώτης ἡλικίας ἐφάψασθαι, ἥτις ἀνεδίδαξε πρὸ τῶν
ἡγεμονικῶν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα τιμᾶν, ἥτις καὶ ἐνδιαιτω-

“- ~ 9 4
μένη τῇ ψυχῇ μόνον od καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν
ὑπομιμνήσκει τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἀπὸ τῶν ὑφηλῶν
καὶ ὑπερόγκων ἀντισπῶσα καὶ στέλλουσα καὶ τὸ
ἄνισον ἰσότητι θεραπεύουσα. τοιγαροῦν τὰς πόλεις
9 ’ > lA
εὐθηνίας, εὐπορίας, εὐνομίας, εἰρήνης ἀναπεπλή-

α For a similar, though much longer, diatribe against
luxurious living see De Som. ii. 18 ff.

318

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 19-22

he possessed his incomings and goods in stock he
would take no step in the direction of economy,
either in town or country, either on shipboard or
on the road, but would make display of his wealth
always and everywhere. But this is evidently not
so much an exhibition of wealth as of arrogance
and intemperance. And yet to this day 20
among those who hold high offices of authority
there are not a few who possessing accumulated
goods in vast numbers and abundant resources,
to whom wealth is ceaselessly flowing in as from
a perennial fountain, still sometimes betake them-
selves to the use of such things as we poor people
use.* Their cups are earthern, their loaves spit-
baked, their extra dishes olives or cheese or greens :
in the summer they wear a girdle and a thin shirt
and in the winter a stout rent-proof mantle. The
floor will sometimes serve for their bedstead : they
have nothing to say to beds of ivory-work or made of
tortoiseshell and gold, or bedding brocaded with
flowers and purple-dyed garments and elaborate
honey-cakes and tables spread with costly luxuries.
The reason, I take it, is not only that they are blessed 21
with a fine nature, but also that they have been
brought under the influence of a right training from
their earliest years. That training has taught them
to value the interests of the man before those of the
ruler. It makes its abode in their souls, and hardly
a day passes but it reminds it of their common
humanity and draws them away from lofty and over-
weening thought, reduces their swollen dimensions,
and medicines their inequality with equality. And 22
therefore they have filled their cities with plenty and
abundance, with order and peace ; of no good thing

319

23

24

25

PHILO

κασιν, ἀγαθὸν μὲν οὐδὲν ὑπεξελόμενοι, πάντα δ᾽
ἀφειδῶς καὶ ἀταμιεύτως χαριζόμενοι. τὰ μὲν δὴ
τῶν εὐγενῶν καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ ἡγεμόνων ἔργα ταῦτα
καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπ now. τὰ δὲ τῶν
νεοπλούτων ἐκεῖνα πλάνῳ τινὶ τύχης εἰς πολυ-
χρηματίαν περιηκόντων, ot τὸν ἀληθῆ καὶ βλέποντα

~ 9 9 “- ’ὔ “- A τ Ἂι
πλοῦτον ἐξ ἀρετῶν τελείων συνεστῶτα καὶ τῶν

κατ᾽ ἀρετὰς πράξεων οὐδ᾽ ὄναρ ἴσασι, τῷ δὲ τυφλῷ
προσέπταισαν, ἐφ᾽ οὗ σκηριπτόμενοι κατ᾽ ἀναγ-
καῖον τὴν ἄγουσαν ὁδὸν οὐχ ὁρῶντες εἰς ἀνοδίας
ἐκτρέπονται, θαυμάζοντες τὰ μηδεμιᾶς ἄξια σπουδῆς
καὶ τὰ φύσει τίμια γελῶντες" οἷς ὁ ἱερὸς λόγος
ὅρκον ἐν οὐ δέοντι καιρῷ ποιουμένοις, οὐ μετρίως
ἐπιτιμᾷ καὶ ὀνειδίζει" δυσκάθαρτοι γὰρ καὶ dvo-
ίατοι, ὡς μηδὲ παρὰ θεῷ τῷ τὴν φύσιν ἵλεῳ
συγγνώμης ἀξιοῦσθαι.

VI. Παρθένων δὲ καὶ aan TO περὶ τάς
εὐχὰς αὐτοκρατὲς ἀφείλετο, τῶν μὲν παρθένων τοὺς
πατέρας κυρίους, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν τοὺς ἄνδρας
ἐπιγνώμονας ἀποφήνας εἴς τε βεβαίωσιν τῶν ὅρκων
καὶ λύσιν: καὶ μήποτ᾽ εἰκότως" αἱ μὲν γὰρ διὰ
νεότητα δύναμιν ὅρκων οὐκ ἴσασιν, ὡς χρήζειν τῶν
ἐπικρινούντων, αἱ δὲ πολλάκις ὑπ᾽ εὐχερείας ὀμ-
νύουσιν, ἃ μὴ τοῖς ἀνὸράσι συνοίσει" διόπερ αὐτοῖς
ἀνέθηκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ τὰ ὀμοσθέντα' φυλάττειν
ἢ τοὐναντίον. χῆραι δὲ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ὀμνύτωσαν---οὐ
γὰρ ἔχουσι τοὺς παραιτητάς, οὔτε ἄνδρας ὧν δι-

1 MSS. νομισθέντα Or ὀνομασθέντα.

@ See on i. § 25.
> Or “stumbled over,” but σκηριπτόμενοι seems to suggest

320

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 22-25

have they mulcted them, all good things have they
bestowed freely, unsparingly and unstintedly. These
and the like are the actions of noble men, rulers in
the true sense. Far different are the 23
actions of the newly rich who have been wafted into
opulence by a freak of fortune. They know nothing,
have never even dreamt, of the true wealth which
has eyes to see,* whose substance is the perfect
virtues and the actions which conform with them;
it is a blind wealth against which they have struck ?
and taking it for their support they fail of necessity
to see the road before them and wander away into
pathless wilds, admiring what deserves no serious
respect and mocking at what nature would bid them
honour. Such persons, when they take a mistimed
oath, are rebuked and reproached in no gentle terms
by the holy word. Hardly can they be purged and
healed, so that even the gracious nature of God deems
them unworthy of His pardon.

VI. ¢ Virgins and wives are not allowed full control 24
of their vows by the law. It puts the virgins in sub-
jection to their fathers and sets the husbands to judge
for their wives whether the oaths are to hold good or
to be cancelled. That is surely reasonable, for the
former, owing to their youth, do not know the value
of oaths, so that they need others to judge for them,
and the latter often, through want of sense, swear
what would not be to their husbands’ advantage ;
and therefore it gave the husbands power to maintain
the promise, or the reverse. *Widows who have none 25
to intervene on their behalf, neither husbands from

a blind person (οὐχ ὁρῶντες) coming into collision with another
blind person. Cf. “shall the blind lead the blind?”
¢ Num. xxx. 4 ff. ἀ Num. xxx. 9 ff.

VOL. VII Y 321

PHILO

εζεύχθησαν οὔτε πατέρας ἀφ᾽ ὧν μετανέστησαν,

ὅτε τὴν πρὸς γάμον a ἀποικίαν ἐστέλλοντο--, ἐπειδὴ

μένειν τοὺς τούτων ὅρκους ἀναγκαῖον ἐρημίᾳ τῶν
26 κηδομένων βεβαιουμένους.

[278] "Ey δέ τις | ἐπιορκοῦντά τινα εἰδὼς μὴ κατα-
μηνύσῃ ἢ ἀπελέγξῃ φιλίᾳ 1 ἢ αἰδοῖ ἣ φόβῳ διδοὺς
πλέον ἢ εὐσεβείᾳ, τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις ἔνοχος
ἔστω: διαφέρει γὰρ τοῦ ἀδικεῖν οὐδὲν τὸ συν-

27 επιγράφεσθαι ἀδικοῦντι. δίκαι δὲ κατ᾽ ἐπιόρκων
αἱ μὲν ἀνάκεινται τῷ θεῷ, αἱ δὲ ἀνθρώποις, θεῷ
μὲν at ἀνωτάτω καὶ μέγισται --- ἵλεως γὰρ οὐ
γίνεται τοῖς οὕτως ἀσεβοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ μένειν εἰς
ἀεὶ δυσκαθάρτους ἐᾷ, δικαίως, “οἶμαι, καὶ ᾿προσ-
nKovTws’ ὁ γὰρ ἀμελήσας, τί δεινὸν εἰ ἀντ-

28 αμεληθήσεται, οἷς δίδωσι τὰ ἴσα καρπούμενος ;--αἱ

δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων διάφοροι, θάνατος ἢ πληγαί, τῶν
μὲν ἀμεινόνων καὶ περιττῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν θανάτου
δίκας βεβαιούντων, τῶν δὲ μαλακώτερον χρωμένων
ὀργαῖς δημοσίᾳ μάστιγι τυπτόντων ἀναφανδὸν ἐν
κοινῷ" εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ πληγαὶ τοῖς μὴ δουλοπρεπέσιν
οὐκ ἔλαττον δίκης θανάτου.

VII. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν at ῥηταὶ προστάξεις περι-

ἔχουσιν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἀλληγορῆσαι τὰ περὶ τὸν

29

¢ Τεν.ν. 1. R.V. “If anyone sin in that he heareth the
voice of adjuration ”’ (A.V. “‘ swearing ’’) “ he being a witness,
whether he hath seen or known, if he do not utter it then he
shall bear his iniquity.” The meaning of “ adjuration *’
apparently is a solemn appeal in the name of God to give
witness (as in the banns of marriage). Philo takes the Greek
word for adjuration ὁρκισμός as = “ (false) swearing.’

ὃ Probably (as Heinemann), an allusion to the LXX form of
the third commandment, “shall not purify,” οὐ μὴ καθαρίσῃ,
for ‘‘ shall not hold guiltless.”

¢ No definite punishments for perjury, as distinguished

322

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 25--29

whom they have been parted, nor fathers whom they
left behind them when they set out to find a new
home in marriage, should be slow to swear, for their
oaths stand beyond repeal, the inevitable result of
their lack of protectors.

«If anyone knows that another has perjured him- 26
self, and influenced by friendship or shame or fear
rather than piety, fails to inform against him or bring
him to justice, he must be liable to the same penalties
as the perjurer. For to range oneself on the side
of the wrongdoer is just the same as committing the
wrong. As to the penalties of perjury, some proceed 27
from God, others from man. The highest and great-
est are from God, Who is not gentle to such impiety,
but suffers the guilty to remain for ever in their well-
nigh hopeless uncleanness, a just and fitting penalty,

I hold.2 For he who has ignored God, how can he
wonder if he is ignored in his turn and is repaid in his
own coin? The penalties given by men are different, 28
death or the lash.¢ The better kind whose piety is -
extra-fervent maintain the penalty of death, while
those whose feelings of indignation are not so stern
have the offenders scourged by order of the State in

a public place and in the sight of all. Indeed except

to persons of a servile nature, a flogging is as severe

a penalty as death.

VII. Such is the sum and substance of these ordin- 29
ances? taken literally. But we may also allegorize

from false witness in general, appear in the Pentateuch.
See on § 252.

ἀ The allegory which follows only applies to 88 24 and 25,
and not to §§ 26-28. Have these sections been misplaced ?
The subject of vows which occupies the rest of the treatment
of the third commandment differs radically from oaths, and
the sudden return to the question of perjury is very awkward.

323

PHILO

τόπον ἔχοντα θεωρίαν τὴν διὰ συμβόλων. εἰδέναι
τοίνυν προσήκει ὅτι ὁ τῆς φύσεως ὀρθὸς λόγος
πατρὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀνδρὸς ἔχει δύναμιν, ἐπινοίαις
διαφόροις: ἀνδρὸς μέν, ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἀρετῶν σπόρον
ὥσπερ εἰς ἀγαθὴν ἄρουραν τὴν ψυχὴν καταβάλ-
λεται, πατρὸς δ᾽ ὅτι βουλὰς ἀγαθὰς καὶ πράξεις
καλὰς καὶ σπουδαίας γεννᾶν πέφυκε καὶ γεννήσας
ἐκτρέφει ποτίμοις δόγμασιν, ἃ παιδεία καὶ σοφία

80 χορηγοῦσι. διάνοια δ᾽ ἀπεικάζεται τοτὲ μὲν
παρθένῳ, τοτὲ δὲ γυναικὶ 7 Xnpevovon 7 ἀνδρὶ ¢ ETL
ἡρμοσμένῃ" παρθένος μὲν διάνοια ἁγνὴν καὶ ἀδιά-
φθορον διαφυλάττουσα ἑαυτὴν ἀπό τε ἡδονῶν καὶ
ἐπιθυμιῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ λυπῶν καὶ φόβων, ἐπιβούλων
παθῶν, ἧς τὴν προστασίαν ὁ γεννητὴς ἀνῆπται
πατήρ' τῆς δ᾽ ὡς γυναικὸς ἀστείῳ λόγῳ τῷ κατ᾽
ἀρετὴν συμβιούσης τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν ὁ αὐτὸς “λόγος
οὗτος ἐπαγγέλλεται σπείρων ἀνδρὸς τρόπον ἐννοίας

31 ἀρίστας. ἣ δ᾽ ἂν ἀπορφανισθῇ ψυχὴ καὶ γενεᾶς
τῆς κατὰ τὴν φρόνησιν καὶ ἐπιγαμίας τῆς κατὰ τὸν
ὀρθὸν λόγον, χηρεύουσα τῶν καλλίστων καὶ ἔρημος
οὖσα “σοφίας, ὑ ὑπαίτιον ἑλομένη ζωήν, ἔ ἔνοχος ἔστω
οἷς ἔγνω καθ᾽ ἑαυτῆς, ἰατρὸν ἁμαρτημάτων οὐκ
ἔχουσα οὔθ᾽ ὡς ἄνδρα συμβιωτὴν οὔθ᾽ ὡς πατέρα
γεννητὴν τὸν κατὰ σοφίαν λόγον.

82 «VII. Τῶν δὲ μὴ μόνον τὰς οὐσίας 7) μέρη τού-
των ἀλλὰ καὶ αὑτοὺς ἀνάθημα ποιησαμένων ἐν
εὐχαῖς ὥρισε τιμάς, οὐ πρὸς κάλλος ἢ μέγεθος 7H τι

[216] τῶν ὁμοιοτρόπων ἀπιδών, [ ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀριθμὸν

@ For 88 32-34 see Lev. xxvii. 2-8.
324

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 29-32

such parts of the subject as admit of being studied in
a figurative sense. We should know, then, that |
nature’s right reasoning has the functions both of a
father and a husband, though theconceptions attached
to each are different. It acts as a husband because
it deposits the seed of virtue in the soul as in a fertile
field. It acts as a father because its nature is to
beget good intentions and noble and worthy actions,
and then to foster its offspring with the water of the
truths which education and wisdom abundantly
supply. The mind is likened on the one hand to a 30
virgin, on the other to a woman either in widowhood,
or still united toa husband. Asa virgin it keeps itself
pure and uncorrupted from the malignant-passions,
pleasures and desires and griefs and fears. Over this
virgin mind the father who begat it has assumed
authority. But when, like a wife, it dwells with
virtuous reasoning as its worthy mate, that same
reasoning promises to take charge of it and im-
pregnates it husband-like with thoughts of highest
excellence. But the soul, which is bereaved of 31
its birth-tie with sound sense or its marriage-tie
with right reasoning, is widowed of all that is most
excellent and, deserted by wisdom because it has
chosen a life of guilt, must stand bound by the
decision which it has made to its own undoing. It
has none to heal its errors, no reasoning of wisdom,
either to live with it as its husband or to act as its
father and begetter.

VIII. *In dealing with those who have dedicated 32
votive offerings, not only of their property or parts of
it, but of themselves, the law laid down a scale of
valuation in which no regard is paid to beauty or
stature or anything of the kind, but all are assessed

325

33

34

95.

PHILO

ἴσον, διακρίνας ἄνδρας αὐτὸ μόνον γυναικῶν Kal
νηπίους τελείων. κελεύει γὰρ ἀπὸ μὲν εἰκοσαετίας
ἄχρις ἑξηκονταετίας ἀνδρὸς εἶναι τιμὴν δραχμὰς
διακοσίας νομίσματος ὁλαργύρου, γυναικὸς δὲ
εἴκοσι πρὸς ταῖς ἑκατόν, ἀπὸ δὲ πενταετίας ἄχρις
εἰκοσαετίας τοῦ μὲν ἄρρενος δραχμὰς ὀγδοήκοντα,
τῆς δὲ θηλείας τεσσαράκοντα, ἀπὸ δὲ βρέφους εἰς
πενταετίαν τοῦ μὲν ἄρρενος δραχμὰς εἴκοσι, τοῦ δὲ
θήλεος δώδεκα, τῶν δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἑξήκοντα ἔτη βεβιω-
κότων πρεσβυτῶν μὲν δραχμὰς ἑξήκοντα, πρεσβυ-
τίδων δὲ τεσσαράκοντα. τὰ δ᾽ ἴσα καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἀρρένων
καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν ἑκάστην καὶ. ἐπὶ θηλειῶν ὁμοίως
διετάξατο, τριῶν ἕνεκα τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων" ἑνὸς
μὲν ὅτι ἴσον ἐστὶ καὶ ὅμοιον τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς εὐχῆς,
ἐάν τε ὑπὸ μεγάλου τινὸς ἐάν τε καὶ ὑπ᾽ εὐτελοῦς
γίνηται: δευτέρου δ᾽ ὅτι τοὺς εὐξαμένους ἁρμόττον
οὐκ ἦν ταῖς τῶν ἀνδραπόδων ὑποβάλλεσθαι τύχαις
—éxelva γὰρ πρὸς τὰς τῶν σωμάτων εὐεξίας καὶ
εὐμορφίας τιμᾶται 7 τοὐναντίον ἐπευωνίζεται---.
τρίτου δ᾽ ὃ καὶ ἀναγκαιότατον, ὅτι παρὰ μὲν ἡμῖν
ἀνισότης, ἰσότης δὲ παρὰ θεῷ τίμιον.

ΙΧ. Ταῦτα μὲν ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων, ἐπὶ δὲ κτηνῶν
τάδε νομοθετεῖται" ἐάν τις ἀφορίσῃ κτῆνος, εἰ μὲν
εἴη καθαρὸν ἔκ τινος γένους τῶν τριῶν, ἅπερ εἰς
θυσίαν ἀπενεμήθη, βοῦς 7% πρόβατον 7 αἴξ, ἐκεῖνο
καταθυέτω μὴ ὑπαλλαττόμενος μήτε χεῖρον κρείτ-
τονος μήτ᾽ ἄμεινον χείρονος" οὐ γὰρ πολυσαρκίᾳ καὶ

«ἘΠ. “80 shekels,”’ rxx “50 didrachma,” that is, properly
speaking, 100 drachmas, but Philo follows the common
valuation by which the didrachmon was held to be worth
half a shekel. Cf. Matt. xvii. 24 (where the ΕΝ. translates
δίδραχμον by “ half-shekel’’), of the temple-tax based on Ex.

326

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 32-35

equally, the sole distinctions made being between
men and women and between children and adults.
It ordained that from 20 years to 60 a man should be 33
valued at 200% drachmas of pure silver coinage and a
woman at 120; from 5 to 20 years, a male at 80 and a
woman at 40 drachmas ; from infancy to 5 years, a
male at 20 and a female at 12 drachmas, while in the
case of old persons who have lived beyond 60, the
men are valued at 60 drachmas and the women at 40.
The order that all males and all females should be 34
assessed equally® at every age was made for three
most cogent reasons. First, because the worth of one
person’s vow is equal and similar to that of another,
whether it is made by a person of great importance
or one of mean estate ; secondly, because it was not
seemly that the votaries should be subject to the
vicissitudes of slaves who are valued at a high price
or on the other hand are rated low accordingly as
they have or have not a fine condition of body and
comeliness ; thirdly, and this is the most convincing
of all, that in the sight of men inequality, in the
sight of God equality, is held in honour.

IX. These are the regulations laid down by the law 35
in the case of human beings.° For livestock we have
the following. If a man sets apart a beast from his
stock, if it is a clean specimen of one of the three
kinds which are allowed for sacrifice, an ox or sheep
or goat, he must sacrifice that particular animal
without substituting either a better for a worse or a
worse for a better. For God does not delight in the
xxx. 18. So too Josephus, Ant. iii. 195, says that the shekel
is worth 4 Attic drachmas. The same transvaluation is
followed throughout this section.

> 2,6. irrespective of the other considerations, beauty and
stature, mentioned above. ¢ Lev. xxvii. 9-13.

327

PHILO

f 4 4 e 4 3 > 9 ’ lo
πιότητι ζῴων χαίρει ὁ θεός, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνυπαιτίῳ τοῦ
9 4 4 oA \ ¢ 4 4 3 3
εὐξαμένου διαθέσει: ἐὰν δὲ ὑπαλλάττηται, δύο ἀνθ
ἑνὸς καθιερούτω, τό τε ἀρχαῖον καὶ τὸ ἀντ᾽ ἐκείνου.
86 ἐὰν δέ τις εὔξηταί τι τῶν μὴ καθαρῶν κτηνῶν,
ἀγέτω πρὸς τὸν δοκιμώτατον τῶν ἱερέων: ὁ δὲ
τιμάσθω μὴ ὑπερβάλλων τὴν ἀξίαν, προσεπιτιθεὶς
τῆς τιμῆς καὶ τὸ πέμπτον, ἵν᾽, εἰ δέοι καθαρὸν ἀ ἀντὶ
τούτου ζῷον ἱἑ ἱερουργεῖν, μηδὲν ὑστερίζοι τῆς ἀξίας
τιμῆς, καὶ ἄλλως ὑπὲρ τοῦ δυσωπῆσαι τὸν εὐξά-
μενον, ὅτι τὴν εὐχὴν ἐποιήσατο οὐ συλλογισμῷ, τὸ
μὴ καθαρὸν ζῷον ὥς γ᾽ οἶμαι τότε νομίσας εἶναι
καθαρὸν πλάνῳ διανοίας, κεκρατημένος ὑ ὑπὸ πάθους.
37 οἰκία δ᾽ εἰ γένοιτο ἀνάθημα, πάλιν ἐχέτω τιμητὴν
ἱερέα" οἱ δ᾽ ὠνούμενοι μὴ τὰ ἴσα κατατιθέτωσαν,

3 3 > A e 9 4 3 ’ 4
GAN εἰ μὲν ὁ εὐξάμενος ἀνακομίζεσθαι προέλοιτο,
9 4 A 4 4 A 3
ἐπιδαψιλευέσθω τὸ πέμπτον, κολάζων. τὴν ev
χέρειαν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν, διττὸν ἐπ: ἐν οἷς μὲν
[277] ηὔχετο τὴν εὐχέρειαν, ἐν οἷς ὃ ᾿ ἐφίεται ὧν πρό-
τερον ἐξέστη τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, εἰ δ᾽ ἕτερος, μηδὲν
38 πλέον τῆς ἀξίας κατατιθέτω. ὁ δ᾽ εὐξάμενος μὴ
μακροὺς ἐμποιείτω χρόνους πρὸς τὴν ὧν ηὔξατο
τελείωσιν: ἄτοπον γὰρ τὰς μὲν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους

α In Leviticus simply “the priest.”

>’ The meaning of the rule seems'to be that if the animal
cannot be lawfully dedicated, its owner may sell it for the
price fixed by the priest, and give the money, but if he
redeems it he must pay the extra fifth. The question of pro-
viding a clean animal in its stead does not appear to be
considered.

¢ Lit. “‘ mastered by passion.” But it is strange to find a
mistake or delusion of this kind called a πάθος, though
perhaps it falls in with the Stoic theory that the passions are
κρίσεις. Cf. index in S.V.F. to κρίσις, and note on Leg. All.
ii. 6.
328

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 35-38

fleshiness or fatness of animals, but in the blameless
intention of the votary. But if he does make any
exchange, he must consecrate two instead of one, both
the original and its substitute. If he has vowed any 36
of his unclean cattle, he must bring it to the most
highly esteemed of the priests,* who must assess it not
exceeding its proper value and then add a fifth part
of that value, so that if a clean animal has to be
provided for the sacrifice instead of this one, what is
provided may not fall short of the proper value.®
Further, the intention is to discomfit the votary for
having made a vow without reflection under the
impression that the impure animal was on this occa-
sion pure, a mistake presumably due to some mental
aberration which powerfully affected him.* If he 37
dedicates his house, again he should take a priest as
assessor, but the sums to be disbursed by the pur-
chasers vary. If the votary determines to redeem
the house, he must spend more freely and add a fifth
as a punishment for two bad things, thoughtlessness
and lust of possession, the former shown in the matter
of his vow, the latter in his desire to regain what he
had surrendered. If the purchaser is other than the
original owner, he should not pay more than the
proper value. The votary must not interpose long 38
delay in accomplishing his νον’ It would be a
strange inconsistency if while in our dealings with

ἃ Lev. xxvii. 14, 15. Philo omits the regulations about
land which follow in vv. 16-25.

¢ Deut. xxiii. 21, “Τῇ thou shalt vow a vow to the Lord thy
God thou shalt not delay (χρονιεῖς) to pay it.” The meaning
of what follows seems to be that we often anticipate our
payments to men, because we know they need it. The fact
that God does not need them should not make us treat God
with less respect than we shew to men.

329

PHILO

e λ ’ὔ 3 Ul ae) θ A de \ θ A
ὁμολογίας ἐπιτέμνειν πειρᾶσθαι, Tas δὲ πρὸς θεὸν
A 3 A a
τὸν ἀνεπιδεᾶ καὶ οὐδενὸς χρεῖον ἐκπροθέσμους
.2 4 , aA
ἀποφαίνειν, μελλήσει καὶ βραδυτῆτι διελέγχοντας
e \ > A A A
αὑτοὺς ἐπὶ τῷ μεγίστῳ τῶν ἀδικημάτων, ὀλιγωρίᾳ
“A A 4 Ὁ A
Th πρὸς αὐτόν, οὗ τὴν θεραπείαν ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος
’
εὐδαιμονίας εἶναι νομιστέον. ὅρκων μὲν δὴ πέρι
καὶ εὐχῶν ἅλις.
e “A “- A
89 Χ, “EEAs ἐστι κεφάλαιον τὸ περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς
[BS 4 @ ’ \ 9 aA 9 4 A to
ἑβδόμης, ᾧ μυρία καὶ ἀναγκαῖα ἐμφέρεται, τὰ εἴδη
“A e “A .- “A 4, A 3 ὔ A A
τῶν ἑορτῶν, at τῶν φύσει μὲν ἐλευθέρων διὰ δὲ
A 3 4 4 ϑ a
καιροὺς ἀβουλήτους θητευόντων καθ᾽ ἕβδομον
3 A A
ἐνιαυτὸν ἀφέσεις, AL πρὸς χρεώστας τῶν συμβαλ-
λ 4 λ ’ Α ὃ ’ e ὃ 4 ” a.
ὄντων φιλοφροσύναι τὰ δάνεια ἑβδόμῳ ἔτει τοῖς
e 5A 4 e > , λ “-- θ
ὁμοφύλοις χαριζομένων, at ἀνάπαυλαι τῆς βαθυ-
’ὔ Ul A >
γείου πεδιάδος τε Kal ὀρεινῆς, al γίνονται παρ
ε [4 A \ A A
ἑξαετίαν, τὰ περὶ τοῦ πεντηκοστοῦ ἔτους νομοθετη-
θέντα' ὧν καὶ ἡ ἄνευ κόπου ψιλὴ διήγησις ἱκανὴ
τοὺς μὲν εὐφυεῖς τελειῶσαι πρὸς ἀρετήν, τοὺς δ᾽
Ἢ a
ἀφηνιαστὰς Kat σκληροὺς τὸ ἦθος εὐπειθεστέρους
40 ἀπεργάσασθαι. τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς ἐν
3 a e 4 3 3 A 4 4
ἀριθμοῖς ἑβδόμης" εἴρηται διὰ μακροτέρων πρό-
τερον, ἣν τε ἔχει φύσιν ἐν δεκάδι καὶ ἣν συγγένειαν
, ΒΕ , \ A , \
[278] πρός τε αὐτὴν δεκάδα καὶ πρὸς τετράδα, τὴν

1 At this point the mss. insert the title Περὶ ἑβδόμης.
2 Mangey ἑβδομαδὸς.

4 Here begins the fourth commandment. A fresh numera-
tion of the chapters in Cohn. >’ De Op. 90-127.

° Or “within the series of the first ten numbers.” For
this see De Op. 95-100. The properties “ outside the decad ”’

330

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 38-40

men we try to antedate fulfilment of our promises,
in dealing with God, Who lacks and needs nothing, we
should extend it beyond the appointed time. By
such slowness and procrastination we convict our-
selves of the greatest of iniquities, contempt of Him
whose service we must hold to be the beginning and
consummation of happiness. This is enough on this
subject of oaths and vows.

X. *The next head is concerned with the sacred 39
seventh day. Under this head are included a great
number of matters of vital importance, the different
kinds of feasts; the release in the seventh year of
persons who were naturally free but through times
of adversity are in servitude; the charity shown
by creditors to debtors in cancelling loans to their
‘fellow-nationals, this also in the seventh year; the
rest allowed both in the lowlands and the uplands to
the fertile soil at intervals of six years; and the laws
laid down with respect to the fiftieth year. The mere
recital of all these is enough to make the naturally
gifted perfect in virtue without any effort on their
part and to produce some degree of obedience in the
rebellious and hard-natured. Now the 40
part played by seven among the numbers has been
described at length in an earlier place,? where we
have discussed the properties which it possesses
within the decad,° and its close connexion with ten
itself 4 and with four, which is the origin and source of

(ibid. 91) are explained as those of the seventh term ina
series, as in the geometrical progression mentioned here just
below.

4 Ido not see anything in De Op. which corresponds to
this. The “kinship” of 7 to 4 is that 4+3=7 (ibid. 96),
and that 4 is the source of 10, because 14+2+3+4= 10, is
often brought out, 6.9. ibid. 47.

331

PHILO

4 > A A
δεκάδος ἀρχήν τε Kal πηγήν, Kal ὡς συντεθεῖσα μὲν
> A (ὃ Cha A \ 3 A A ” ’ὔ
ἀπὸ μονάδος ἑξῆς γεννᾷ τὸν ὀκτὼ καὶ εἴκοσι τέ-

> A “A
Aevov ἀριθμὸν τοῖς αὑτοῦ μέρεσιν icovpevov εἰς δ᾽
> λ ’ὔ > θ A VA e aA \ 4
ἀναλογίαν ἀχθεῖσα κύβον ὁμοῦ καὶ τετράγωνον
ἀποτελεῖ, καὶ ὡς μυρία ἄλλα κάλλη θεωρημάτων ἐξ
αὑτῆς ἐπιδείκνυται, περὶ ὧν οὐ καιρὸς μακρηγορεῖν.
ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν προκειμένων καὶ ἐμφερομένων
IQ A 9 A
εἰδῶν ἐπισκεπτέον, ἀπὸ TOU πρώτου τὴν ἀρχὴν
ποιησαμένους. ἦν δὲ πρῶτον τὸ περὶ ἑορτῶν.
41 ΧΙ. ᾿Εἰσὶ τοίνυν ἀριθμῷ δέκα ἕορταί, ἃς ἀνα-
’ e la ’ ’ὔ ΔΑ 9 4 4
γράφει ὁ νόμος" πρώτη μέν, ἣν ἀκούσας θαυμάσαι τις
vo» ¢ Sot anid A ὃ , δὰ ς
ἂν ἴσως, αὕτη δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἡμέρα aoa: δευτέρα δὲ ἡ
Δ A a
du ἐξ ἡμερῶν ἑβδόμη, σάββατον αὐτὴν “Ἑβραῖοι
ld ’ “A ’ὔ > ¢ A 4
πατρίῳ γλώττῃ καλοῦσι" τρίτη δ᾽ ἡ μετὰ σύνοδον
9 “-
τὴν κατὰ σελήνην νέαν νουμηνία: τετάρτη δ᾽ ἡ τῶν
’ 3) A 4 4 > ¢ “~
διαβατηρίων, 7 καλεῖται Ildoya: πέμπτη δ᾽ ἡ τῶν
> 4 > 4 λ ¢ A 4 4 > »
ἀσταχύων ἀπαρχή, TO ἱερὸν δράγμα: ἕκτη δ᾽ ἀζυμα:"
A 4
μεθ᾽ ἣν ἡ τῶν ἑβδομάδων ὄντως ἑβδόμη" ὀγδόη δὲ
e ’ > » sy ’ 4 A e ~
ἱερομηνία: ἐνάτη δὲ νηστεία: δεκάτη δὲ ἡ τῶν
σκηνῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ τῶν ἐτησίων ἑορτῶν συμ-
4 3 “λ > θ A ὃ (ὃ λ “"
πέρασμα, εἰς τέλειον ἀριθμὸν δεκάδα τελευτῶσα.
ἀρκτέον δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης.
42) XII. ἍΛπασαν ἡμέραν ἑορτὴν ἀναγράφει ὁ νόμος

1 Here a title varying in the mss. is inserted, printed by
Cohn as Περὶ τῶν δέκα ἑορτῶν.

332

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 40-42

ten. Also we have shewn how a sevenfold addition
of successive numbers beginning with unity produces
twenty-eight,* a perfect number, equal to the sum
of its factors ; again, how when brought into a geo-
metrical progression, it produces simultaneously a
square and a cube,’ besides the numberless other
beautiful results which the study of it reveals. On
these numerical points we must not linger at the
present juncture, but we must examine each specific
subject which lies before us included under the general
head, beginning with the first; and the first subject,
as we sav, is the feasts.

ΧΙ. There are in all ten feasts which are recorded 41
in the law. The first, the mention of which may per-
haps cause some surprise, is the feast of every day.
The second is that held on the seventh day with six
days between, called by the Hebrews in their native
tongue Sabbath. The third is the new moon which
follows the conjunction of the moon with the sun.
The fourth is the ‘ Crossing ᾿᾿ festival called Pascha.
The fifth is the offering of the first ears, the sacred
Sheaf. The sixth is the Unleavened Bread. Then
comes what is emphatically ° a seventh, being the
feast of Sevens or Weeks. Eighth is the Sacred-
month-day, ninth is the Fast, tenth the feast of
Tabernacles which concludes the yearly festivals and
thus ends up with a perfect number ten. We must
begin with the first of these.

XII. When the law records that every day is a 42

@ 4.6 1+2... +7=28, the factors of which 1, 2, 4, 7,
14 also=28. Cf. De Op. 101.

ὑ Cf. ibid. 92, 93, where 64= 43 and 835, and 729=27? and
93 are given as examples.

¢ Or “truly,” ἐ.6. it not only comes seventh in the list, but
takes its name from the same number.

333

PHILO

πρὸς τὸν ἀνεπίληπτον βίον ἁρμοζόμενος ὁσίων'
ἀνθρώπων ἑπομένων τῇ φύσει καὶ τοῖς “ταύτης
διατάγμασι. καὶ εἴ γε μὴ παρευημέρησαν αἱ κακίαι
καταδυναστεύσασαι τοὺς περὶ τῶν συμφερόντων
λογισμοὺς ous τῆς ἑκάστων ψυχῆς ἐξῴκισαν, a.
ἔμειναν αἱ τῶν “ἀρετῶν δυνάμεις εἰς ἅπαν ἀήττητοι,
μία ἂν ἦν ὁ ἀπὸ γενέσεως ἄχρι τελευτῆς χρόνος
ἀδιάστατος ἑορτὴ καὶ αἵ τε οἰκίαι καὶ at πόλεις ἐν
ἀδείᾳ καὶ ἐκεχειρίᾳ μεσταὶ πάντων ἂν ἦσαν ἀγαθῶν
48 εὐδίαν ἄγουσαι πραγμάτων. νυνὶ δ᾽ αἱ πλεονεξίαι
καὶ ἀντεπιθέσεις, ἃς ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκες μη-
χανῶνται κατά τε αὑτῶν καὶ κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων, τὸ
συνεχὲς τῆς ἱλαρᾶς διέκοψαν εὐθυμίας. ἐμφανὴς
44 δὲ τοῦ λεγομένου πίστις. ὅσοι γὰρ ἢ παρ᾽ Ἕλ-
[219] λησιν | ἢ παρὰ βαρβάροις ἀσκηταὶ σοφίας εἰσὶν
ἀνεπιλήπτως καὶ ἀνυπαιτίως ῶντες, “μήτε ἀδικεῖ-
σθαι μήτε ἀνταδικεῖν αἱρούμενοι, τὰς τῶν φιλο-
πραγμόνων ὁμιλίας ἐκτρέπονται" καὶ τὰ χωρία, ἐν
οἷς. ποιοῦνται τὰς διατριβάς, προβέβληνται, δικα-
στήρια καὶ βουλευτήρια καὶ ἀγορὰς καὶ ἐκκλησίας
καὶ συνόλως ὅπου τις τῶν εἰκαιοτέρων ἀνθρώπων
45 θίασος ἢ σύλλογος, οἷα βίον ἀπόλεμον καὶ εἰρηναῖον
ἐζηλωκότες, θεωροὶ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ
᾿ πάντων “ἄριστοι, γῆν καὶ θάλατταν καὶ ἀέρα καὶ

1 Mss. ὡς τῶν, which does not seem to me as impossible as
it does to Cohn. See note 6.

2 “MSS. ἐκτρεπόμενοι.

* The idea of the feast of every day comes from Num.
XXVlil., xxix. In xxviii. 2 we have (txx) “‘ observe to offer
me in my feasts, my gifts” etc. followed by the list of the
various offerings. This list begins with the daily sacrifices
and continues in the same order as in this book, with the
sole exception that the Sheaf is not mentioned. Philo utilizes

334

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 42-45

festival,? it accommodates itself to the blameless life
of righteous men ὃ who follow nature and her ordin-
ances. And if only the vices had not conquered and
dominated the thoughts in us which seek the truly
profitable and dislodged them from each soul—if
instead the forces of the virtues had remained un-
vanquished throughout, the time from birth to death
would be one continuous feast, and houses and cities
dwelling in security and leisure would have been full
of all good things with everything tranquil around
them. As it is, the overreaching and the assaults 43
which men and women alike contrive against them-
selves and each other have cleft a breach in the con-
tinuous line of this cheerful gaiety. Here is a clear
proof of what Iam saying. All who practise wisdom, 44
either in Grecian or barbarian lands, and live a blame-
less and irreproachable life, choosing neither to inflict
nor retaliate injustice, avoid the gathering of busy-
bodies and abjure the scenes which they haunt, such
as law-courts, council-chambers, markets, congrega-
tions and in general any gathering or assemblage of
careless men. Their own aspirations are for a life 45
of peace, free from warring. They are the closest
observers of nature and all that it contains ; earth,
sea, air and heaven and the various forms of being

the hint suggested by Numbers to enforce the doctrine, which
he bases elsewhere (De Sac. 111) on the same text that only
the wise man can keep a feast. It is no doubt a consideration | |
with him that the inclusion serves to make the perfect
number ten, but he could have obtained this otherwise by
including the ‘ ‘ Basket, ”” see 88 215 f.

> If the Mss. ws τῶν is retained, the meaning will be “the |
law assumes that men follow nature ”’ etc. (which they seldom —
do). Cf. §§ 51, 52.

“ Or perhaps “peace” (cessation of hostilities), ἐκεχειρία
being used in its more technical sense.

335

46

47

PHILO

οὐρανὸν καὶ Tas ἐν αὐτοῖς φύσεις διερευνώμενοι,
σελήνῃ καὶ ἡλίῳ καὶ τῇ χορείᾳ τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων
πλανήτων τε καὶ ἀπλανῶν ταῖς διανοίαις συμπερι-
πολοῦντες, τὰ μὲν σώματα κάτω πρὸς χέρσον
ἱδρυμένοι, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ὑποπτέρους κατασκευά-
οντες, ὅπως αἰθεροβατοῦντες τὰς ἐκεῖ δυνάμεις
περιαθρῶσιν, οἷα χρὴ τοὺς τῷ ὄντι κοσμοπολίτας
γενομένους, οἵ τὸν μὲν κόσμον ἐνόμισαν εἶναι πόλιν,
πολίτας δὲ τοὺς σοφίας ὁμιλητάς, ἀρετῆς ἐγ-
γραφούσης, ἣ πεπίστευσαι τὸ κοινὸν πολίτευμα πρυ-
τανεύειν. XIII. γέμοντες οὖν καλοκἀγαθίας καὶ
τῶν περὶ σῶμα κακῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς ἀλογεῖν ἐθι-
ζόμενοι καὶ ἐξαδιαφορεῖν τὰ ἀδιάφορα μελετῶντες
καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀλειφόμενοι
καὶ συνόλως ἐπάνω τῶν παθῶν ἵστασθαι σπουδά-
ζοντες ἀεὶ καὶ τὸν ἐπιτειχισμὸν αὐτῶν πάσῃ δυ-
νάμει καθαιρεῖν παιδευόμενοι καὶ ταῖς τῆς τύχης
μὴ καμπτόμενοι προσβολαῖς διὰ τὸ προεκλελογί-
σθαι τὰς ἐπιθέσεις αὐτῆς--ἐπικουφίζει γὰρ καὶ τὰ
βαρύτατα τῶν ἀβουλήτων ἡ πρόληψις, καινὸν οὐδὲν
ἔτι τῆς διανοίας τῶν συμβαινόντων ὑπολαμβα-
νούσης, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐπὶ παλαιοῖς καὶ ἐώλοις ἀμαυρὰν
τὴν ἀντίληψιν ποιουμένης---, εἰκότως ἐνευφραινόμενοι
ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἅπαντά γε τὸν βίον ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν.
οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ὀλίγος εἰσὶν ἀριθμός, ἐμπύρευμα
κατὰ πόλεις ὑποτυφόμενον" σοφίας, ἕνεκα τοῦ μὴ
κατὰ τὸ παντελὲς σβεσθεῖσαν ἀρετὴν ἐκ τοῦ γένους

48 ἡμῶν ἀφανισθῆναι. εἰ δὲ τοῖς ὀλίγοις συνεφρόνησαν

ε A 1, 2 27 ¢ , 3 ε
Ol πανταχοῦ Καὶ EYEVOVTO, OLOUS βούλεται εἰναν Ἢ

1 MSS. χρηστοὺς 2 MSS. ὑποτυφόμενοι.

336

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 45-48

which inhabit them are food for their research, as in
mind and thought they share the ranging of the moon
and sun and the ordered march of the other stars fixed
and planetary. While their bodies are firmly planted
on the land they provide their souls with wings, so
that they may traverse the upper air and gain full
contemplation of the powers which dwell there, as
behoves true “ cosmopolitans ’’ who have recognized
the world to be a city having for its citizens the
- associates of wisdom, registered as such by virtue |
to whom is entrusted the headship of the universal —
commonwealth. XIII. Such men filled with ona 46
worthiness, inured to disregard ills of the body or of
external things, schooled to hold things indifferent
as indeed indifferent,* armed against the pleasures
and lusts, ever eager to take their stand superior to
the passions in general, trained to use every effort .
to overthrow the formidable menace which those
passions have built up against them, never swerving
under the blows of fortune because they have calcu-
lated beforehand the force of its assaults, since the
heaviest adversities are lightened by anticipation,?
when the mind ceases to find anything strange in the
event and apprehends it but dully as it might some
stale and familiar story—such men, we say, in the
delight of their virtues, naturally make their whole
life a feast. These are indeed but a small number 47
left in their cities like an ember of wisdom tosmoulder,
that virtue may not be altogether extinguished and
lost to our race. But if only everywhere men had 48
thought and felt as these few, and become what
* Cf. Quis Rerum 253, where ἐξαδιαφόρησις τῶν ἀδιαφόρων
is coupled with other forms of mental and spiritual exercise,

and see note.
ὃ See App. p. 624.

VOL. VII Z 337

PHILO

4 , \ 9 ’ Ul > 4
φύσις, ἀνεπίληπτοι καὶ ἀνυπαίτιοι πάντες, ἐρασταὶ
φρονήσεως, χαίροντες τῷ καλῷ δι᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν

A A 4 3 3 e 4 A > ”
καὶ τοῦτο μόνον ἀγαθὸν ἡγούμενοι, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα
πάντα ὑπήκοα καὶ δοῦλα ὡς ἂν ἄρχοντες, εὐδαι-
μονίας ἂν αἱ πόλεις ἐγένοντο μεσταΐ, τῶν μὲν ὅσα

, ny, \ , 5. » , Ἄν
λύπης αἴτια καὶ φόβων ἀμέτοχοι, πλήρεις δὲ τῶν
ἀπεργαζομένων χαρὰς καὶ εὐπαθείας, ὡς μηδένα

[280] καιρὸν ἐλλείπειν ἱλαροῦ | βίου, πάντα δὲ τὸν τοῦ
49 ἐνιαυτοῦ κύκλον εἶναι ἑορτήν. XIV. διὸ

παρ᾽ ἀληθείᾳ δικαζούσῃ τῶν φαύλων οὐδεὶς ἀλλ᾽
οὐδὲ τὸν βραχύτατον χρόνον ἑορτάζει, συνειδήσει
τῶν ἀδικημάτων ἀγχόμενος καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ κατηφῶν,
εἰ καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ μειδιᾶν καθυποκρίνεταί. ποῦ

,. Ψ δ 3 A 3 ’ 4
yap ἔχει καιρὸν ἀψευδοῦς εὐφροσύνης κακοβουλό-

~ ’

τατος ὧν καὶ συζῶν ἀφροσύνῃ καὶ περὶ πάντα
ἀκαιρευόμενος, γλῶτταν, γαστέρα, τὰ γεννητικά;

50 δι’ ἧς μὲν γὰρ ἐκλαλεῖ τὰ ἀπόρρητα καὶ ἡσυ-

51

4 A δὲ 3 4 λλ “- A 25 4
χαστέα, τὴν δὲ ἀκράτου πολλοῦ καὶ ἐδεσμάτων
ἀμέτρων ἀναπίμπλησιν ὑπὸ λαιμαργίας, τοῖς δὲ
καταχρῆται πρὸς ἐκνομωτάτους οἴστρους καὶ μίξεις
ἀθέσμους, οὐ μόνον ἀλλοτρίοις γάμοις ἐπιμεμηνώς,
ἀλλὰ καὶ παιδεραστῶν καὶ βιαζόμενος τὸν ἄρρενα
τῆς φύσεως χαρακτῆρα παρακόπτειν καὶ μεταβάλ-
λειν εἰς γυναικόμορφον ἰδέαν ἕνεκα τοῦ μεμιασμένῳ
καὶ ἐπαράτῳ πάθει χαρίσασθαι. δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν ὃ
πάντα μέγας Μωυσῆς τὰς ὑπερβολὰς τοῦ περὶ τὴν
9 e A Ul 3 A ’ “ >
ὄντως ἑορτὴν κάλλους ἰδὼν τελειοτέραν ἢ κατ
3 ’ ’ e 4 . > 9
ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ὑπέλαβεν εἶναι καὶ ἀνέθηκεν

> ἃ ~ , A U4 uA ce ἐ A
αὐτὴν θεῷ φήσας κατὰ λέξιν οὕτως" “᾿ ἑορταὶ κυ-
338

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 48-52

nature intended them to be, all of them blameless
and guiltless and lovers of sound sense, rejoicing in
moral excellence just because it is what it is and
counting it the only true good and all the other goods
but slaves and vassals, subject to their authority, the
cities would have been brimful of happiness, utterly
free from all that causes grief and fears, and packed
with what produces joys and states of well-being, so
that each season as it comes would give full oppor-
tunity for cheerful living and the whole cycle of the
year would be a feast. XIV. And there- 49
fore in the judgement of truth none of the wicked
keeps a feast, even for the shortest time, tormented
as he is by consciousness of wrongdoing and depressed
in soul, even though he simulates a smile with his
face. For where does the wicked man find a season
for true rejoicing? He whose every plan is for
evil, whose life-mate is folly, with whom everything,
tongue, belly and organs of generation, is against
what is seasonable. For with the first he blurts out 50
matters of secrecy which call for silence, while in his
greed he fills the second with viands unlimited and
strong drink in great quantities, and as for the third,
he misuses them for abominable lusts and forms of
intercourse forbidden by all laws. He not only
attacks in his fury the marriage-beds of others, but
even plays the pederast and forces the male type of
nature to debase and convert itself into the feminine
form, just to indulge a polluted and accursed passion.
For this reason Moses, great here as ever, seeing how 51
vast was the beauty which belonged to the true feast,
held that its perfection was beyond the capacity of
human nature to realize, and consecrated it to God
with these very words, “‘ The Lord’s feasts.” For 52

339

PHILO

ΡΝ \ A 3 /\ \ ὃ \ ma ¢ ,
βιου TO YAP ἐπιλύπον και TTEPLOEES τοῦ ἡμετέρου

53 ἐ

54

[281]

γένους λογιζόμενος καὶ ὡς ἔστι μυρίων κακῶν
μεστόν, ἃ γεννῶσι μὲν αἱ ψυχῆς πλεονεξίαι, γεν-
νῶσι δὲ καὶ al σώματος κῆρες, προσβάλλουσι δὲ αἱ
τῆς τύχης ἀνωμαλίαι καὶ τῶν συνόντων al ἀντεπι-
ἔσεις μυρία κακὰ δρώντων τε καὶ πασχόντων,
εἰκότως ἐθαύμαζεν, εἰ δύναταί τις ἐν τοσούτῳ
πελάγει πραγμάτων ἑκουσίων τε καὶ ἀκουσίων
φερόμενος καὶ μηδέποτ᾽ ἠρεμῆσαι οἷός τε ὧν “μηδ᾽
ἀκινδύνῳ βίῳ μετ᾽ ἀσφαλείας ἐνορμίσασθαι τὴν μὴ
λεγομένην ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν οὖσαν ὄντως ἄγειν
ἑορτήν, ἐνευφραινόμενος καὶ ἐντρυφῶν θεωρίᾳ τε
τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ φύσεως
καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ πρὸς ἔργα λόγων καὶ πρὸς λόγους
ἔργων. ὅθεν ἀναγκαίως εἶπε τὰς ἑορτὰς εἶναι

μόνου θεοῦ: μόνος γὰρ εὐδαίμων καὶ μακάριος,

παντὸς μὲν ἀμέτοχος. κακοῦ, πλήρης δ᾽ ἀγαθῶν
τελείων, μᾶλλον δ᾽, εἰ χρὴ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, αὐτὸς
ὧν τὸ ἀγαθόν, ὃς οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ τὰ κατὰ μέρος
ὠμβρησεν ἀγαθά. παρὸ καὶ τῶν πάλαι
τις ἀρετῶσα διάνοια, γαληνιασάντων αὐτῇ τῶν
παθῶν, ἐνεμειδίασε χαρᾶς ἐγκύμων καὶ ὑπόπλεως
γενομένη" καὶ λογισαμένη παρ᾽ αὑτῇ, μή ποτ᾽ ἄρα
τὸ μὲν χαίρειν ἴδιόν ἐστι μόνου θεοῦ, αὐτὴ δὲ
διαμαρτάνει σφετεριζομένη τὰς ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ev-
παθείας, εὐλαβεῖταί τε καὶ τὸν ψυχικὸν | γέλωτα

1 mss. ψυχῆς.

ῦ Lit. “‘those who are together " rather than as Heine-
mann “ our fellowmen.”’

δ See Gen. xviii. 11-15. This interpretation of Sarah’s
laughter and her denial of it, and the answer to that denial
‘but thou didst laugh, ” has already been given in De Abr.
206, where see note. ‘‘ Her passions now calmed within her ”’

340

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 52-54

when he considered the sorrowful and _terror-
stricken condition of our race, how charged it is
with numberless evils generated by the greedy
desires of the soul and also by the infirmities of the
body, increased by the vicissitudes of fortune and
the mutual onslaughts of neighbours against neigh-
bours® who inflict and suffer countless wrongs, he
could not but wonder that anyone, tossed about on
so vast a sea of events, whether of his own intending
or not, and unable to find tranquility or the secure
anchorage of a life kept safe from danger, could really
hold a feast, not in the sense in which the word is
commonly used, but in the true sense ; and the true
sense is, to find delight and festivity in the contempla-
tion of the world and its contents and in following
nature and in bringing words into harmony with
deeds and deeds with words. And therefore it was 53
a necessary pronouncement that the feasts belonged
to God alone, for God alone is happy and blessed,
exempt from all evil, filled with perfect forms of good,
or rather, if the real truth be told, Himself the good,
Who showers the particular goods on heaven and earth.
And so it was that in the days of old 54
a certain mind of rich intelligence, her passions now
calmed within her, smiled because joy lay within
her and filled her womb. And when, as she con-
sidered the matter, it seemed to her that joy might
well be the peculiar property of God alone, and
that she herself was sinning in taking for her own
conditions of well-being above human capacity, she
was afraid, and denied the laughter of her soul

is the interpretation often (e.g. De Fuga 128) given by Philo
of v. 11, “1 ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of
women.”’

341

δῦ

56

57

PHILO

ἀρνεῖται μέχρι τοῦ παρηγορηθῆναι' τὸ γὰρ δέος
αὐτῆς ἐπικουφίζει ὁ ἵλεως θεὸς χρησμῷ κελεύσας
ὁμολογεῖν, ὅτι ἐγέλασεν, ἵν᾽ ἡμᾶς ἀναδιδάξῃ, ὅτι
οὐ κατὰ τὸ παντελὲς ἐ ἐστέρηται τὸ γενητὸν χαρᾶς,
ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν ἀμιγὴς καὶ ἀκραιφνεστάτη, μηδὲν
τῶν τῆς ἐναντίας ἐπιδεχομένη φύσεως, ἐξαίρετος
θεοῦ, ἡ δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνης ῥυεῖσα μικτή, βραχέσιν
ἀνακεκραμένη λυπηροῖς, ἀνδρὸς ἤδη σοφοῦ “δωρεὰν
μεγίστην λαβόντος τὴν τοιαύτην μῖξιν, ἐν ἧ πλείω
τὰ ἡδέα τῶν ἀηδῶν ἀνακέκραται. ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ
τοσοῦτον.

XV. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν συνεχῆ καὶ ἀδιάστατον καὶ
διαιωνίζουσαν ἑορτὴν ἄγεται δευτέρα ἡ Ov ἕξ
ἡμερῶν ἱερὰ ἑβδόμη: ἣν οἱ μὲν ὠνόμασαν παρθένον
εἰς τὴν ὑπερ ἄλλουσαν ἁγνείαν ἀπιδόντες αὐτῆς, οἱ
δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἁμήτορα, σπαρεῖσαν ἐκ μόνου τοῦ
πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων, ἰδέαν τῆς ἄρρενος γενεᾶς, ἀ-
μέτοχον τῆς πρὸς γυναικῶν: ἀνδρειότατος γὰρ καὶ
ἀλκιμώτατος ὁ ἀριθμός, πρὸς ἀρχὴν καὶ ἡγεμονίαν
εὖ πεφυκώς: ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτὴν καιρὸν προσηγόρευσαν
ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν τεκμηράμενοι τὴν νοητὴν αὐτῆς
οὐσίαν. ὅσα γὰρ τῶν ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ἄριστα, δι᾿ ὧν
αἱ ἐτήσιοι ὧραι καὶ τῶν καιρῶν at περίοδοι τεταγ-
μένως ἀποτελοῦνται, μετέσχηκεν ἑβδομάδος, λέγω
δὲ πλάνητας ἑπτὰ καὶ ἄρκτον καὶ πλειάδα καὶ
σελήνης αὐξομένης τε καὶ μειουμένης ἀνακυκλήσεις

α See on De Dec. 102.

ὃ Alternatives for translating the untranslatable καιρός
might be “‘the right season,” “the happy hour or moment,”

‘or the abstract ‘“‘ timeliness.” Heinemann gives ‘die ent-

scheidende Zeit.”” In De Op. 59 καιρός is defined as χρόνοι
κατορθώσεως. The application of it to the number seven is,
like the other names, Pythagorean. As Philo understands it

342

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 55-57

until her doubts were set at rest. For the gracious 55
God allayed her fears by an oracle in which He
bade her acknowledge that she laughed, meaning
thus to teach us the lesson that joy is not altogether
denied to the creature. Joy is of two kinds. One
is unmixed and of the utmost purity, admitting
nothing whatever of the nature opposite to its own.
This joy belongs to God and to no other. .The other
which flows from it is a mixed stream blended with
lesser tributaries of sorrow, and if the blend is such
that the pleasant ingredients outnumber the un-
pleasant, the wise man receives it as the greatest of
ifts. So much for this matter.

XV. After this continuous unbroken feast which 56
has neither beginning nor end, the second to be
observed is the sacred. seventh day, recurring with
six days between. Some have given to it the name
of virgin,? having before their eyes its surpassing
chastity. They also call her the motherless,* be-
gotten by the father of the universe alone, the ideal
form of the male sex with nothing of the female.
It is the manliest and doughtiest of numbers, well
gifted by nature for sovereignty and leadership.
Some give it the name of the “ season,’ ὃ judging its
conceptual nature from its manifestation in the realm
of sense. For seven is a factor common to all the 57
phenomena which stand highest in the world of
sensible things and serve to consummate in due order
transitions of the year and recurring seasons. Such
are the seven planets, the Great Bear, the Pleiades
and the cycles of the moon, as it waxes and wanes,

here, we may perhaps say that it is personified like τύχη, of
which it is the converse, and represents the due order in which
events happen. See further App. p. 624.

343

PHILO

ν᾿ aA ” A 9 2. ae \ A ,
Και Τῶν ἄλλων Tas EVAP[LOVLOUS Και TAVTOS λόγου

58 κρείττους περιφοράς. Μωυσῆς δὲ ἀπὸ σεμνοτέρου

ὅ9

4
πράγματος ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὴν συντέλειαν καὶ παντέ-
λειαν, ἐξάδι μὲν τὴν γένεσιν τῶν τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν

: : \
avabeis, ἑβδομάδι δὲ τὴν τελείωσιν. ἑἕξὰς μὲν yap
“- ’
ἀρτιοπέριττος ἀριθμός, ἐκ τοῦ δὶς τρία παγείς,
ἔχων ἄρρενα μὲν τὸν περιττόν, θῆλυν δὲ τὸν ἄρτιον,
& e : >
ἐξ ὧν εἰσιν at γενέσεις κατὰ φύσεως θεσμοὺς a-
ὔ e \ \ 95 4 \ ~ 9 A
κινήτους. ἑβδομὰς δὲ ἀμιγέστατος καὶ φῶς, εἰ χρὴ
1A θὲ 9 A e ὃ : Δ Ἁ 9 4 e 4 50°
τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἑξάδος: ἃ yap ἐγέννησεν ἕξάς, Tad
e A ’ 9 ’ A “AN
éBdouas τελεσφορηθέντα ἐπεδείξατο. παρὸ Kal
“- 4
γενέθλιος τοῦ κόσμου δεόντως ἂν προσαγορεύοιτο,
A ’
καθ᾽ ἣν τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔργον τέλειον ἐκ τελείων

~ 3 4 3 Kw ’
60 μερῶν ἀνεφάνη" ἐν ἡἣ προστέτακται

[289]

’ > Ὁ 3 3 3 \ e ’ e
πάντων ἀνέχειν ἔργων, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ῥᾳθυμίας ὁ
3 aA
νόμος εἰσηγητής---ἀεὶ yap ἐθίζει κακοπαθεῖν Kal
A 4 > 4 \ Ἁ > A \ 4
πρὸς πόνον ἀλείφει καὶ τοὺς ἀργεῖν καὶ σχολάζειν

32 9 4 ’ “-- Δ e 4

ἐθέλοντας προβέβληται, διείρηται γοῦν | ἕξ ἡμέρας
ἐνεργεῖν---, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα τοὺς συνεχεῖς καὶ ἀτρύτους
πόνους χαλάσῃ καὶ τὰ σώματα μεμετρημέναις

9 4, > 4, ‘
. ἀνέσεσιν ἀνακτησάμενος καινώσῃ πάλιν πρὸς τὰς

6]

9 ’ e \ aA
αὐτὰς ἐνεργείας" οἱ yap διαπνεύσαντες, οὐκ ἰδιῶται
’ὔ > A \ > ’ es 4 j \
μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀθληταί, ῥώμην συλλέγονται Kat
4 4
ἀπὸ κραταιοτέρας δυνάμεως ἀνυπερθέτως ἕκαστα
ΝΕ 4 ~
τῶν πρακτέων τλητικῶς ὑπομένουσι. προστάξας
4 A A A 4
μέντοι μὴ διαπονεῖν Tots σώμασι κατὰ Tas ἑβδόμας

@ Cf. Mos. i. 207 (and note), and. ii..210.

B44:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. δ7-61

and the movements, harmonious and grand beyond
description, of the other heavenly bodies. But 58
Moses from a higher point of view gave it the name
of completion and full perfection when he laid down
six as the number under which the parts of the
universe were brought into being, seven as that
under which they were perfected. For six is even-
odd, formed out of twice three with the odd part
as its male element and the even as its feminine, and
these two, by the immutable laws of nature, are the
sources of generation. But seven is a number en- 59
tirely uncompounded, and may be quite properly
described as the light of six. For seven reveals
as completed what six has produced, and therefore
it may be quite rightly entitled the birthday of the
world,? whereon the Father’s perfect work, com-
pounded of perfect parts, was revealed as what it
was. On this day we are commanded 60
to abstain from all work, not because the law in-
culeates slackness; on the contrary it always
inures men to endure hardship and incites them
to labour, and spurns those who would idle their
time away, and accordingly is plain in its directions
to work the full six days. Its object is rather
to give men relaxation from continuous and un-
ending toil and by refreshing their bodies with a
regularly calculated system of remissions, to send
them out renewed to their old activities. For a
breathing-space enables not merely ordinary people
but athletes also to collect their strength and
with a stronger force behind them to undertake
promptly and patiently each of the tasks set before
them. Further, when He forbids bodily labour 6]
on the seventh day, He permits the exercise of

345

62

63

64

PHILO

ἐφῆκε Tas ἀμείνους πράξεις ἐπιτελεῖν: αὗται δ᾽
εἰσὶν αἱ διὰ λόγων καὶ δογμάτων τῶν κατ᾽ ἀρετήν"
προτρέπει γὰρ φιλοσοφεῖν τότε βελτιοῦντας τὴν
ψυχὴν καὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα νοῦν. ἀναπέπταται γοῦν
ταῖς ἑβδόμαις μυρία κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν διδασκαλεῖα
φρονήσεως καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ ἀνδρείας καὶ δι-
καιοσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν, ἐν οἷς οἱ μὲν ἐν
κόσμῳ καθέζονται σὺν ἡσυχίᾳ τὰ ὦτα ἀνωρθια-
κότες μετὰ προσοχῆς πάσης ἕνεκα τοῦ διψῆν λόγων
ποτίμων, ἀναστὰς δέ τις τῶν ἐμπειροτάτων ὑφ-
ἡγεῖται τὰ ἄριστα καὶ συνοίσοντα, οἷς ἅπας ὁ βίος
ἐπιδώσει πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον. ἔστι δ᾽ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν
τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀμυθήτων λόγων καὶ δογμάτων
δύο τὰ ἀνωτάτω κεφάλαια, τό τε πρὸς θεὸν δι᾽
εὐσεβείας καὶ ὁσιότητος καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους διὰ
φιλανθρωπίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης: ὧν ἑκάτερον εἰς
πολυσχιδεῖς ἰδέας καὶ πάσας ἐπαινετὰς τέμνεται.
ἐξ ὧν δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι Μωυσῆς οὐδένα καιρὸν
ἀπράκτους ἐᾷ τοὺς χρωμένους αὐτοῦ ταῖς ἱεραῖς
ὑφηγήσεσιν'" ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ συνέστημεν ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ
σώματος, ἀπένειμε καὶ τῷ σώματι τὰ οἰκεῖα ἔργα
καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ τὰ ἐπιβάλλοντα καὶ ἐφεδρεύειν TO.
ἕτερα τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐσπούδασεν, ἵνα πονοῦντος μὲν
τοῦ σώματος ἡ ψυχὴ διαναπαύηται, ἀναπαύλῃ δὲ
χρωμένου διαπονῇ, καὶ οἱ ἄριστοι τῶν βίων, ὅ τε
θεωρητικὸς καὶ ὁ πρακτικός, ἀμείβωσιν ἀντι-
παραχωροῦντες ἀλλήλοις, ὁ μὲν πρακτικὸς λαχὼν

« The meaning of ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν is not quite clear. Gener-
ally, if not always, it is applied to a general statement, mostly
numerical, to indicate that it is not exact. Perhaps it may

346

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 61-64

the higher activities, namely, those employed in
the study of the principles of virtue’s lore. For the
law bids us take the time for studying philosophy
and thereby improve the soul and the dominant
mind. So each seventh day there stand wide open 62
in every city thousands of schools of good sense,
temperance, courage, justice and the other virtues
in which the scholars sit in order quietly with ears
alert and with full attention, so much do they thirst
for the draught which the teacher’s words supply,
while one of special experience rises and sets forth
what is the best and sure to be profitable and will
make the whole of life grow to something better.
But among the vast number of particular truths and 63
principles there studied, there stand out practically 5
high above the others two main heads: one of duty
to God as shewn by piety and holiness, one of duty
to men as shewn by humanity and justice, each of
them splitting up into multiform branches, all highly
laudable. These things shew clearly that Moses 64
does not allow any of those who use his sacred in-
struction to remain inactive at any season. But
since we consist of body and soul, he assigned to the
body its proper tasks and similarly to the soul what
falls to its share, and his earnest desire was, that
the two should be waiting to relieve each other.
Thus while the body is working, the soul enjoys a
respite, but when the body takes its rest, the soul
resumes its work, and thus the best forms of life,
the theoretical and the practical, take their turn in
replacing each other. The practical life has six as
mean here that it would be possible to find more than two
main heads, or other than these two. Heinemann translates

“80 zu sagen,’ but I do not see what this means here, even
if the Greek can be so translated.
347

PHILO

ἐξάδα κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὑπηρεσίαν, ὁ
δὲ θεωρητικὸς ἑβδομάδα πρὸς ἐπιστήμην καὶ
τελειότητα διανοίας.
65 XVI. ᾿Απείρηται δὲ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν πῦρ ἐναύειν ὡς |
[283] ἀρχὴν Kat σπέρμα τῶν περὶ βίον πραγματειῶν,
ἐπειδήπερ ἄνευ πυρὸς οὐδὲν ἔστι τῶν εἰς τὰς πρὸς
τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίας χρείας ἐργάσεσθαι: ὡς δι᾽ ἑνὸς
τοῦ ἀνωτάτω καὶ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν εἰς τὰς τέχνας
66 καὶ μάλιστα τὰς βαναύσους αἰτίου κεκωλῦσθαι καὶ
{τὰ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ὑπηρεσιῶν. GAA’ ἔοικε διὰ
τοὺς ἀπειθεστέρους καὶ ἥκιστα προσέχοντας τὸν
νοῦν τοῖς προσταττομένοις" καὶ τὰ ἄλλα προσνομο-
θετεῖν, οὐ μόνον ἐλευθέρους ἀνέχειν ἔργων ἀξιῶν
ταῖς ἑβδόμαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεράπουσι καὶ θεραπαίναις
ἐφιείς, ἄδειαν καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἐλευθερίαν δι᾿ ἐξ
67 ἡμερῶν προκηρύττων τούτοις, ἵν᾽ ἀμφοτέρους ἀνα-
διδάξῃ μάθημα κάλλιστον" τοὺς μὲν δεσπότας
αὐτουργεῖν ἐθίζεσθαι, μὴ ἀναμένοντας τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν
οἰκετῶν λατρείας καὶ ὑπηρεσίας, ἵν᾽, εἴ τινες
ἀβούλητοι καιροὶ κατάσχοιεν κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἀγ-
θρωπείων πραγμάτων μεταβολάς, μὴ τῷ ἀήθει τῆς
᾿αὐτουργίας προκάμνοντες τοῖς ἐπιτάγμασιν ἀπ-
αγορεύωσιν, ἀλλ᾽ εὐκινητοτέροις χρώμενοι τοῖς τοῦ
σώματος μέρεσιν εὐφόρως καὶ μετὰ ῥᾳστώνης

,

1 The insertion was made by Tischendorf, though not
accepted by Cohn. Sc. αἴτια. It seems to me necessary for
the construction.

2 MSS. πραττομένοις.

@ Ex. xxxv. 3, cf. Mos. ii. 219 and note.

> Or ‘‘ primary,” see on 8 82.

¢ For §§ 66-69 see Ex. xx. 10.

4 This seems to contradict both the foregoing and the

848.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 64-67

its number allotted for ministering to the body. The
theoretical has seven for knowledge and perfection
of the mind.

XVI. It is forbidden to light any fire on this day,* 65
fire being regarded as the source and origin of life,
since without it nothing can be executed which serves
the requirements necessary for existence. And thus
the prohibition of the highest ® and earliest instru-—
ment needed in the arts, and especially those of the
mechanical kind, acts as a barrier to those required
for the particular forms of service. ° But it would 66
seem that his further enactments were given for the
sake of the more disobedient who refused to pay
attention to his commandments, when he not only
requires the free men to abstain from work on the
Sabbath, but gives the same permission to men-
servants and handmaids, and ‘sends them a message
of security and almost of freedom after every six
days, to teach both masters and men an admirable
lesson. The masters must be accustomed to work 67
themselves without waiting for the offices and
attentions of their menials,? and so in the event
of times of difficulty such as occur through the |
vicissitudes of human affairs, they may not through
unfamiliarity with personal service lose heart at
the outset and despair of accomplishing the tasks
set before them, but use the different parts of their
body with more nimbleness and shew a robust and

commandment itself “‘ neither thou . . . nor thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant.’” Philo perhaps means that there are
wants which must necessarily receive attention, and that if
this attention is rendered by oneself, it is not work in the
sense of the commandment, but is work if rendered by
another. Strict modern Sabbatarians would probably feel
the same.

349

68

69

70

[284]

71

PHILO

ἐνεργῶσι, τοὺς δ᾽ οἰκέτας μὴ ἀπογινώσκειν τὰς
ἀμείνους ἐλπίδας, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχοντας τὴν ou ἕξ ἡμερῶν
ἄνεσιν ἐμπύρευμά τι καὶ ζώπυρον ἐλευθερίας τὴν
εἰς τὸ παντελὲς ἄφεσιν, εἰ διαμένοιεν χρηστοὶ καὶ
φιλοδέσποτοι, προσδοκᾶν. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ τοὺς μὲν
ἐλευθέρους ὑπομεῖναί ποτε τὰς δούλων ὑπηρεσίας,
τοῖς δ᾽ οἰκέταις ἐγγενέσθαι μετασχεῖν ἀδείας,
συμβήσεται τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον ἐπιδοῦναι πρὸς
ἀρετὴν τελειοτάτην, ὑπομιμνῃσκομένων ἰσότητος
καὶ ἀντεκτινόντων ἀλλήλοις χρέος ἀναγκαῖον τῶν.
τε λαμπρῶν εἶναι δοκούντων καὶ τῶν ᾿ἀφανεστέρων.

ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐ θεράπουσι μόνον ἐκεχειρίαν
ἔδωκεν ὁ νόμος ταῖς ἑβδόμαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ κτήνεσι"
καίτοι φύσει θεράποντες μὲν ἐλεύθεροι γεγόνα-
σιν---ἄὄνθρωπος γὰρ ἐκ φύσεως δοῦλος οὐδείς---, τὰ
δ᾽ ἄλογα ζῷα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων χρείαν καὶ
ὑπηρεσίαν εὐτρεπισθέντα δούλων ἔχει τάξιν’ ἀλλ᾽
ὅμως ἀχθοφορεῖν ὀφείλοντα καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν
κεκτημένων ὑπομένειν πόνους τε καὶ καμάτους
ἀναπαύλας εὑρίσκει ταῖς ἑβδόμαις. καὶ τί δεῖ
τῶν ἄλλων μεμνῆσθαι; οὐδὲ γὰρ βοῦς πρὸς τὰ
ἀναγκαιότατα καὶ χρησιμώτατα τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ
γεγονώς, ἄροτον' γῆς προετοιμαζομένης εἰς σπορὰν
καὶ πάλιν δραγμάτων συγκομισθέντων ἀλοητὸν εἰς
Καρποῦ κάθαρσιν, τότε καταζεύγνυται, τὴν τοῦ
κόσμου γενέθλιον ἑορτάζων. οὕτως ἄρα διὰ πάν-
τῶν τὸ ἱεροπρεπὲς αὐτῆς πεφοίτηκε.

XVII. Τοσούτου δ᾽ ἀξιοῖ σεβασμοῦ τὴν ἑβδόμην,
1 MSS. ἄροτρον.

4“ See App. pp. 624-625.
’ The Deuteronomic version of the fourth commandment

350

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 67-71

easy activity ; while on the other hand the servants
are not to refuse to entertain still higher hopes,
but should find in the relaxation allowed after six
days an ember or spark of freedom, and look for-
ward to their complete liberation if they continue to
serve well and loyally. But the result of this occa-
sional submission of the free to do the menial offices
of the slave, together with the immunity allowed to
the slave, will be a step forward in human conduct

68

towards the perfection of virtue, when both the —

seemingly distinguished and the meaner sort re-
member equality and repay to each other the debt
incumbent on them. But the holiday of
the Sabbath is given by the law not only to servants
but also to the cattle, though there might well be a
distinction. For servants are free by nature, no man
being naturally a slave,* but the unreasoning animals
are intended to be ready for the use and service of
men and therefore rank as slaves. Yet all the same,
though it is their proper business to carry burdens
and undergo toils and labour for their owners, they
obtain their respite on the seventh days. There is
no need to go through the rest of the list, when even
the ox? who serves the most useful and indispens-
able purposes in human life, namely ploughing when
the soil is prepared for the sowing, and again thrash-
ing when the sheaves are brought in for the purging
of the fruit, is then kept free from the yoke and enjoys
the birthday festival of the world. So universally has
the sanctity of the day extended its influence.
XVII. So high is the reverence which he assigns

(v. 14) has “nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy
cattle.”” So also xx in Ex. xx. 10, though the Hebrew and
E.V. have only “ nor thy cattle.”

351

69

70

71

PHILO

[“ A 3 e ’ ᾽ : 4 /
ὥστε καὶ ἄλλα ὁπόσα ταύτης μετέχει τετίμηται
9 ~ ~ ᾿
παρ᾽ αὐτῷ. κατὰ γοῦν ἕβδομον ἐνιαυτὸν ἀεὶ
9 A ~
χρεωκοπίαν εἰσηγεῖται πένησιν ἐπικουρῶν Kal τοὺς
’ὔ A
πλουσίους ἐπὶ φιλανθρωπίαν προκαλούμενος, ἵνα
~ 9Q 7
τῶν ἰδίων μεταδιδόντες ἀπόροις χρηστὰ Kal περὶ
αὑτῶν προσδοκῶσιν, εἰ γένοιτό τι πταῖσμα" πολλὰ
\ \ 3 ~ “A
δὲ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ὁ Bios
e A > δ
ὁρμεῖ πνεύματος ἀστάτου τρόπον μεταβάλλων πρὸς
LY 9 > ~
712 τὰ evavtia. καλὸν μὲν οὖν τὴν ἀπὸ δανειστῶν
4 > A U4 4 , 3 ‘ 9 9
χάριν ἐπὶ πάντας φθάνειν χρεώστας" ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οὐ
4 \ , , 3 >
πάντες πρὸς μεγαλοφροσύνην πεφύκασιν, ἀλλ
9.ϑ 14
εἰσὶν ἥττους ἔνιοι χρημάτων ἢ οὐ σφόδρα εὔποροι,
\ 4 9 ’ ᾿ ᾽ὔ
καὶ τούτους ἐδικαίωσεν εἰσφέρειν ἃ μὴ λυπήσει
4 ~ ~
73 διδόμενα. παρὰ yap τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν εἰσπράττειν οὐκ
27 2p A Lon ἊΨ ot \ \
ἐάσας ἐφῆκε παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων κομίζεσθαι, τοὺς μὲν
9 4 7 \ ~
καλέσας εὐθυβόλως “᾿ adeAdous,” ἵνα μηδεὶς φθονῇ
~ 99. 7 e nn 3 ’ 4 9
τῶν ἰδίων ὡς ἂν ἐκ φύσεως συγκληρονόμοις ἀδελ-
A \ \ \ e A Ψ > 4 4. 5
φοῖς, τοὺς δὲ μὴ ὁμοεθνεῖς, ὅπερ εἰκός, “᾿ ἀλλο-
’ > 3 ’ e > 3 ’ > 4
τρίους ᾿ ὠνόμασεν. ἡ δ᾽ ἀλλοτριότης ἀκοινώνητον,
\ aA “~
εἰ μὴ καὶ ταύτην tis ὑπερβολαῖς ἀρετῶν μεθῦ-
αρμόσαιτο πρὸς συγγενικὴν οἰκειότητα" συνόλως
γὰρ ἐν ἀρεταῖς ἡ πολιτεία καὶ νόμοις, οἷ μόνον τὸ
Α > A 9 A e ’ \ Α
74 καλὸν ἀγαθὸν εἰσηγοῦνται. ὑπαίτιον δὲ τὸ

@ See Deut. xv. 1-3.

ὃ Heinemann translates “‘ weniger wohlhabend,” apparently
taking χρημάτων as a genitive of respect. 1 think this is
impossible.

¢ Meaning perhaps “‘ which must not be allowed to grieve
them.” Cf. Deut. xv. 10, “ Thine heart shalt not be grieved
(Lxx οὐ λυπηθήσῃ) because the Lord will bless thee.”

352

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 71-74

to the seventh day that other things which share
in the qualities of the number are honoured in his
estimation. Thus he lays down a rule for cancellation
of debts in every seventh year,’ both as a succour to
the poor and as a challenge to the rich to shew
humanity, in order that by giving some share of their
own to the needy they may expect to receive the
same kindness themselves, if any disaster befall them.
Human vicissitudes are manifold, and life is not
always on the same anchorage, but is like an unsteady
wind, ever veering round to the opposite quarter.
Now the best course would be that the creditors’ 72
liberality should be extended to all debtors. But
since they are not all capable of showing magnanimity,
some being under the dominion of their money?® or
not very well off, he laid down that they too should
make a contribution, the sacrifice of which would
not give them pain.° He does not allow them to 73
exact money from their fellow-nationals, but does
permit the recovery of dues from the others.4
He distinguishes the two by calling the first by
the appropriate name of brethren, suggesting that
none should grudge to give of his own to those
whom nature has made his brothers and fellow-
heirs. Those who are not of the same nation
he describes as aliens, reasonably enough, and
the condition of the alien excludes any idea of
partnership, unless indeed by a transcendency of
virtues he converts even it into a tie of kinship,
since it is a general truth that common citizenship
rests on virtues and laws which propound the morally
beautiful as the sole good.f Now lending 74

4 Deut. xv. 3. 6 KV. “ foreigner.”
f See App. p. 625.

VOL. VII Qa 353

75

76

[285]

77

78

PHILO

δανείζειν ἐπὶ τόκῳ" δανείζεται γάρ τις οὐ περιουσίᾳ
ζῶν, ἀλλὰ δηλονότι χρεῖος ὦν, ὃς" ἐπαναγκαζόμενος
τόκους τοῖς ἀρχαίοις προσαποτίνειν ἀ ἀπορώτατος ἐξ
ἀνάγκης ἂν γένοιτο καὶ νομίσας ὠφελεῖσθαι ἔτι
βλάπτεται καθάπερ τὰ ὀλιγόφρονα τῶν ζῴων τῷ
παρόντι δελέατι. σοὶ δ᾽ εἴποιμ᾽ ἄν, ὦ δανειστά"
τί κοινωνίᾳ τρόπον ἀκοινώνητον συσκιάζεις; τί δὲ
τῷ μὲν δοκεῖν εἶναι χρηστὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος προσ-
ποιῇ, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἔργοις ἀπανθρωπίαν ἐπιδείκνυσαι
καὶ δεινὴν σκαιότητα, πλείω ὧν ἔδωκας ἀναπράτ-
των καὶ ἔστιν ὅπου διπλάσιον, ,πενιχρότερον ἀπ-
epyalopevos TOV πένητα; τοιγάρτοι συναλγεῖ μὲν
οὐδείς, ὅταν ὀρεχθεὶς πλειόνων προσσυναποβάλῃς
καὶ τὰ ὄντα, πάντες | δ᾽ ἐφήδονται τοκογλύφον καὶ
ὀβολοστάτην καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὀνομά οντες, ὡς
ἔφεδρον ἀλλοτρίων κακῶν καὶ τὴν ἑτέρων ἀτυχίαν
ἰδίαν κρίνοντα εὐτυχίαν. ἀλλὰ πηρόν," ὡς ἔφη τις,
ἡ κακία, καὶ ὁ δανείζων τυφλός, τὸν χρόνον τῆς
ἀποδόσεως οὐ βλέπων, ἐν ᾧ μόλις ἢ οὐδ᾽ ὅλως ὧν
ἐκ πλεονεξίας τεύξεσθαι προσεδόκησεν ἐφίξεται.
οὗτος μὲν οὖν διδότω δίκας τῆς φιλαργυρίας, ἃ
προήκατο μόνα κομιζόμενος, ἵνα μὴ ἀτυχίας ἀν-
θρώπων ἐργάζηται προσοδευόμενος ἐξ ὧν οὐ
προσῆκεν: οἱ δὲ χρεῶσται τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν νόμων

1 MSS. ὡς. 2 MSS. πονηρόν.
3 MSS. μὴ κομιζόμενος.

@ Ex. xxii. 25, Lev. xxv. 35-37, Deut. xxiii. 19; in the last
passage lending money on interest to a foreigner is sanctioned.

ὑ The source of the quotation is not known.

0 ἐργάζηται ἀ ἀτυχίας could in itself mean ‘‘ create or produce
misfortunes,” as Heinemann seems to take it, though we
should expect ἀνθρώποις, but the point is rather that he Uses
people’s misfortunes. ἐργάζεσθαι, to “trade” or “make

354

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 74-78

money on interest is a blameworthy action,’ for a
person who borrows is not living on a superabund-
ance of means, but is obviously in need, and since
he is compelled to pay the interest as well as the
capital, he must necessarily be in the utmost straits.
And while he thinks he is being benefited by the
loan, he is actually like senseless animals suffering
further damage from the bait which is set before
him. I ask you, Sir Moneylender, why do you 75
disguise your want of a partner’s feeling by pre-
tending to act as a partner? Why do you assume
outwardly a kindly and charitable appearance but
display in your actions inhumanity and a savage
brutality, exacting more than you lend, sometimes
double, reducing the pauper to further depths of
poverty ? And therefore no one sympathizes when 76
in your eagerness for larger gains you lose your
capital as well. In their glee all call you extortioner
and money-grubber and other similar terms, you who
have lain in wait for the misfortunes of others, and
regarded their ill-luck as your own good luck. It has 77
been said® that vice has no sense of sight ; so too
the moneylender is blind, and has no vision of the
time of repayment, when it will hardly be possible,
if at all, to obtain what he has expected to gain by
his greed. Such a person may well pay the penalty 78
of his avarice by receiving back merely what he pro-
vided, and learn not to make a trade of other people’s
misfortunes and enrich himself in improper ways.
And the borrowers should be granted the privilege
money,” is common enough, and there is a good parallel of
this use with the accusative in Demosthenes, p. 794 τὰ τῶν
ἄλλων κακὰ τοῦτον τρέφει. . ." ταῦτα γεωργεῖ, ταῦτα ἐργάζεται.
(The genitive with ἀπό, or the dative, seems to be commoner,
and perhaps we might read ἀπ᾽ ἀτυχίας or ἀτυχίαις.)

355

PHILO

φιλανθρωπίας ἀξιούσθωσαν, τόκους καὶ ἐπιτοκίας
μὴ τελοῦντες, αὐτὸ δὲ μόνον τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀπο-
τινύντες: πάλιν γὰρ ἐν καιροῖς τὸν αὐτὸν ἔρανον
ἀνταποτίσουσι τοῖς συμβάλλουσιν ἀμειβόμενοι ταῖς
ἴσαις ὠφελείαις τοὺς χάριτος ἄρξαντας.

19. XVIII. Τοιαῦτα διαταξάμενος ἑξῆς ἀναγράφει
νόμον ἡμερότητος καὶ φιλανθρωπίας μεστόν. ἐάν,
φησί, πραθῇ σοί τις τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ἕξ ἔτη δου-

4 A A ς 4 aA 3 4 > 4
eveTw, TH δὲ ἑβδόμῳ προῖκα ἐλεύθερος ἀφιέσθω.
4 6¢ 5 A 32 δ] e 4 2 e ’

80 πάλιν ἀδελφὸν τὸν ὁμόφυλον εἶπεν ὑποσπείρων
τῇ τοῦ κεκτημένου ψυχῇ διὰ τῆς προσρήσεως τὴν
πρὸς τὸν ὑπήκοον συγγένειαν, ἵνα μὴ ws ξένου,
πρὸς ὃν οὐδὲν φίλτρον ἐστὶν εὐνοίας, κατολιγωρῇ,
φιλοίκειον δέ τι προπεπονθὼς πάθος ἐκ διδασκα-
λίας, ἣν ὁ ἱερὸς λόγος ὑπηχεῖ, μὴ ἀγανακτῇ μέλ-

81 λοντος ἐλευθεροῦσθαι. τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους δούλους
μὲν ὀνομάζεσθαι συμβέβηκε, θῆτας δὲ τῷ ὄντι
εἶναι. τῶν ἀναγκαίων χάριν ὑπηρετοῦντας, κἂν
μυριάκις αὐτεξούσιον δυναστείαν καὶ δεσποτείαν

82 ἀπειλῶσί τινες κατ᾽ αὐτῶν: οὖὗς τιθασευτέον, ἐπι-
λέγοντας τὰ χρηστὰ ἐκεῖνα τοῦ νόμου παραγγέλ-
pata: μισθωτός ἐστιν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ὁ λεγόμενος
δοῦλος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος wy, ἔχων πρὸς σὲ τὴν
ἀνωτάτω συγγένειαν, ἔπειτα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ

α See Deut. xv. 12, which follows the passage discussed in
§§ 71-73, from which the prohibition of usury was a digres-
sion. The limitation of slavery is also enforced in Ex. xxi. 2.
But the use of the word “ brother “ shews that it is Deutero-
nomy which he has in mind.

> For ὑπηχεῖν see note on De Som. i. 164.

¢ Or “‘hired labourers,” “‘ wage-earners.’’ ‘The word im-
plies not merely occupation but a definite status, above the

δοῦλος, but lower than the other citizens. In § 39 θητεύοντες
aré opposed to ἐλεύθεροι.

356

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 78-82

of the law’s charity, and pay neither simple nor com-
pound interest, but just the principal. For later, as
‘the proper occasion arise, they will make the same
sacrifice to their present creditors and requite with
equal assistance those who were the first to bestow
the benefit.

XVIII. After ordinances of this sort he follows 79
them by laying down a law which breathes kindness
and humanity throughout. “ If,’ he says, “‘ one of
your brethren is sold to you, let him continue in
slavery for six years but in the seventh be set free
without payment.’ Here again he uses the term 80
brother of a fellow-national, and by this name in-
directly sows in the soul of the owner the thoughts
of his close relationship to the person in his power.
It bids him not despise him as a stranger who has
no charm to win his affection, but allow the lesson
which the holy word suggests? to create a preliminary
sense of kinship, and thus feel no resentment at his
approaching liberation. For people in this position, 81
though we find them called slaves, are in reality
labourers ὁ who undertake the service just to procure
themselves the necessaries of life, however much
some may bluster about the rights of absolute power
which they exercise over them. *We must abate 82
their truculence by repeating these excellent in-
junctions of the law. The man whom you call a
slave, my friend, is a hired person, himself too a
man, ultimately ὁ your kinsman, further of the same

ὦ §§ 82-85 are a homily on Deut. xv. 12-18.

6 dvwratw="if you go right up to the beginning,” *‘ ulti-
mately’ or “ primarily,” as suits the context. So in § 233
and very probably in § 65. Cf. Mos. i. 314, he who kills a
man is guilty διὰ τὴν ἀνωτάτω Kal κοινὴν συγγένειαν. Heine-
mann in “ héchsten Sinne”’ seems to me to miss the sense.

357

99 66

89

[286]

84

85

PHILO

ἔθνους, Taxa δὲ καὶ φυλέτης καὶ δημότης, ἐνδείας
χάριν εἰς τουτὶ τὸ σχῆμα ὑπηγμένος. ἀνελὼν οὖν
ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπίβουλον κακόν, ἀλαζονείαν, ὡς
μισθωτῷ προσφέρου, τὰ μὲν διδούς, τὰ δὲ καὶ
λαμβάνων' παρέ ει μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνος ἀοκνότατα τὰς
ὑπηρεσίας ἀεὶ καὶ πανταχοῦ, μ μηδὲν ὑπερτιθέμενος,
ἀλλὰ φθάνων τὰς σὰς ἐπικελεύσεις τάχει καὶ
προθυμίᾳ: σὺ δ᾽ ἀντιδίδου τὰς τροφὰς καὶ ἐσθῆτα
καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν, μὴ καταζεύξας ὡς ζῷον
ἄλογον μηδὲ πλείοσι καὶ βαρυτέροις τῆς δυνάμεως
ἄχθεσι πιέζων μηδ᾽ ὑβρίζων μηδὲ ἀπειλαῖς καὶ
ἐπανατάσεσιν εἰς “χαλεπὰς δυσθυμίας ἐφελκό-
μενος, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναχωρήσεις διδοὺς καὶ ἀνέσεις με-
μετρημένας" τὸ γὰρ μηδὲν ἄγαν " ἐπὶ πάντων
ἄριστον καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς οἰκέτας δεσποτῶν.
ὑπηρετηθεὶς μέντοι χρόνον αὐταρκέστατον, ἐξα-
ετίαν, ὅταν ὁ ἱερώτατος ἀριθμὸς ἐνίστασθαι μέλλῃ,
τὸ ἕβδομον ἔτος, ἐλεύθερον μεθίεσο τὸν ἐλεύθερον
φύσει μηδὲν ἐνδοιάσας, ἀλλ᾽, ὦ γενναῖε, καὶ γε-
γηθὼς δίδου τὴν χάριν, ὅτι καιρὸν ἔλαβες τὸ ζῴων
ἄριστον, ἄνθρωπον, ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις εὐεργετῆσαι:
δούλῳ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι μεῖζον ἐλευθερίας ἀγαθόν.
χαίρων οὖν καὶ προσεπιδαψίλευσαί τι τῶν ἰδίων
ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστου μέρους τῆς κτήσεως ἐφοδιάσας τὸν
εὐεργετηθέντα" σὸν γὰρ ἐ ἐγκώμιον, εἰ μὴ πένης ὧν
ἀπαλλάττοιτο τῆς οἰκίας, ἀλλὰ τῶν εἰς τἀναγκαῖα

α This is a case in which Philo seems to adapt the law to
contemporary conditions. We do not hear of δῆμοι in old
Israel, but apparently a classification into φυλαί and δῆμοι was
in force in Alexandria. See App. p. 625.

’ See Deut. xv. 18, “‘ It shall not seem hard to thee when
thou lettest him go free from thee.”

358

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 82-85

nation, perhaps also of the same tribe and ward,*
reduced to the guise which he now adopts by actual
need. Expel, then, from your soul that evil and 83
malignant thing, arrogance. Deal with him as your
hired servant, both in what you give and what you
take. As for the latter, he will render you his ser-
vices without the slightest backwardness always and
everywhere without procrastination, and anticipate
your orders with zeal and rapidity. And you must
give him in return food and raiment and take care
for his other needs. Do not harness him like an
unreasoning animal nor oppress him with weights
too heavy and too numerous for his capacity, nor
heap insults upon him, nor drag him down by threats
and menaces into cruel despondency. Rather grant
him time and places for respite according to some
regular rule. For while “ not too much of anything ”
is an excellent maxim in every case, it is particularly
so as between masters and servants. ὃ When however 84
you have received his services for the fullest term
required, namely, six years, and when the truly sacred
number of the seventh year is about to begin, grant
his freedom to him who is naturally free and grant
it without hesitation, my friend, and rejoice that you
have found an opportunity of benefiting the highest
of living creatures, man, in his chief interest. For a
slave can have no greater boon than freedom. °¢ Be 85
glad, too, to crown your benefaction by bestowing
something of each of your various kinds of property
to start him on his way. For it is a praise to you that
he should not leave your home penniless but well
stocked in resources to procure what is necessary.

¢ Ibid. νυ. 18, “when thou lettest him go free from thee
thou shalt not let him go empty.”

359

86

87

88

PHILO

ἀφορμῶν εὐπορηκώς, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν ὑπ᾽ ἐνδείας εἰς
τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀτυχίαν ὑπαχθῇ δουλεύειν ἀναγκασθεὶς
διὰ σπάνιν τῶν περὶ δίαιταν καὶ ἡ σὴ χάρις
ἀναιρεθῇ. πενήτων μὲν δὴ πέρι τοσαῦτα.

XIX. Κελεύει δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἀργὴν τὴν χώραν ἐᾶν ἔτει
ἑβδόμῳ, διὰ πολλά: πρῶτον μέν, ἵνα τὴν ἑβδομάδα
τιμήσῃ κατὰ πάντας χρόνους ἡμερῶν καὶ μηνῶν
καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν" ἑβδόμη τε γὰρ πᾶσα ἡμέρα t ἱερά, τὸ
καλούμενον παρ᾽ Ἑβραίοις σάββατον, μηνῶν τε ὁ
ἕβδομος κατὰ πᾶν ἔτος ἑορτῶν ἔλαχε τὴν με-
γίστην, ὥστ᾽ εἰκότως καὶ ὁ ἕβδομος ἐνιαυτὸς τοῦ
περὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν σεβασμοῦ τυχὼν ἐκτετίμηται.
δεύτερον δ᾽ ἐκεῖνο: μὴ πάντα, φησίν, ἴσθι τοῦ
κέρδους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑκὼν ζημίαν ὑπόμεινον, ἵνα καὶ
τὴν ἀκούσιον βλάβην, εἴ ποτε γένοιτο, ῥᾳδίως
ἐνέγκῃς, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὡς ἐπὶ καινῷ καὶ ξένῳ dvo-
χεραίνων ἀθυμήσῃς. εἰσὶ γὰρ τῶν πλουσίων οὕτως
ἀτυχεῖς τὰς γνώμας τινές, ὥστε ἀπορίας ἐπι-
σχούσης στένουσι καὶ κατηφοῦσιν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ εἰ
πᾶσαν ἀφῃρέθησαν τὴν οὐσίαν. ἀλλὰ τῶν Μωυ-
σέως ὁμιλητῶν ὅσοι φοιτηταὶ γνήσιοι καλοῖς ἐν-
ασκούμενοι νομίμοις ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας ἐθίζονται
τὰς ἐνδείας εὐμαρῶς ὑπομένειν διὰ τοῦ καὶ τὴν
ἀρετῶσαν χώραν ἐᾶν ἀργήν, ἅμα καὶ μεγαλο-
φροσύνην ἀναδιδασκόμενοι καὶ" τὰς ὁμολογουμένας

1 The phrase “do not belong in all things to lucre,” seems
to me strange, and as the mss. vary between πάντα, φησίν, ἴσθι
and παντάπασιν ἴσθι, one might be inclined to read, as Cohn
thinks possible, παντάπασι, φησί. Nicetas’s paraphrase, how-
ever, iva διδάξῃ μὴ πάντα εἶναι τοῦ κέρδους is an argument for
the form here printed.

᾿ Mangey proposed to correct καὶ to διὰ rod. Heinemann
suggests {διὰ τοῦ καὶ. See note a, p. 362.

360

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 85-88

Otherwise the same thing may happen again. He
may be reduced by need to his old unhappy plight
and compelled to undertake slavery again through
lack of the means of life, and the boon you bestowed
upon him may be cancelled. So much for the
poor.

XIX. Then follows a commandment to let the 86
land lie fallow during the seventh year.*. There are
several reasons for this. In the first place he wished
to give seven its honourable position in all the series
in which time is measured, namely, days, months and
years. For every seventh day is holy, a Sabbath as
the Hebrews call it, and it is in the seventh month
in every year that the chief of all the feasts falls, and
therefore naturally the seventh year also has been
marked out for a share in the dignity which belongs
to the number. And there is this second reason. 87
Do not, he says, be entirely under the power of
lucre, but submit voluntarily to some loss, so that
you may find it easy to bear some involuntary
injury, if ever it should occur, instead of resenting
it as some strange and alien misfortune and falling
into despair. For some of the rich are so poor-
spirited that when adversity overtakes them, they
are as mournful and depressed as if they had
been robbed of their whole substance. But among gg
the followers of Moses all who have been his true
disciples, trained in his excellent institutions from
their earliest years, by allowing even rich territory
to lie idle inure themselves to bear privations calmly
and by the lesson of magnanimity thus learned
voluntarily and deliberately to let even undoubted

@ See Ex. xxiii. 11, Lev. xxv. 2 ff.

361

PHILO

προσόδους μόνον οὐκ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἑκουσίῳ γνώμῃ
89 μεθιέναι. τρίτον κἀκεῖνο αἰνίττεσθαί μοι
[287] δοκεῖ, τὸ μηδενὶ προσήκειν TO | παράπαν ἀνθρώ-
πους ἄχθει. βαρύνειν καὶ πιέζειν' εἰ γὰρ τοῖς μέρεσι
τῆς γῆς, ἃ μήτε ἡδονῆς μήτε ἀλγηδόνος πέφυκε
κοινωνεῖν, μεταδοτέον ἀναπαύλης, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον
ἀνθρώποις, οἷς οὐ μόνον αἴσθησις πρόσεστιν ἡ
κοινὴ καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων, ἀλλὰ καὶ λογισμὸς
ἐξαίρετος, ᾧ τὰ ἐκ πόνων καὶ καμάτων ὀδυνηρὰ
90 τρανοτέραις φαντασίαις ἐ ἐντυποῦται; παυσάσθωσαν
οὖν οἱ λεγόμενοι δεσπόται τῶν ἐπὶ δούλοις σφοδρῶν
καὶ δυσυπομονήτων ἐ ἐπιταγμάτων, ἃ καὶ τὰ σώματα
κατακλᾷ βιαζόμενα καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸ τῶν σω-
91 μάτων ἀπαγορεύειν ἀναγκάζει. φθόνος γὰρ οὐδεὶς
προστάττειν τὰ μέτρια, δι᾽ ὧν καὶ ὑμεῖς τῆς προσ-
ηκούσης ὑπηρεσίας ἀπολαύσετε καὶ οἱ θεράποντες
εὐφόρως τὰ κελευσθέντα δράσουσι καὶ τὰς δια-
κονίας οὐ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἅτε προκαμόντες καὶ (εἰ δεῖ
τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν) ἐν τοῖς πόνοις προγηράσαντες
ὑπομενοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μήκιστον ἀθλητῶν τρόπον
ἀνηβῶντες, οὐ τῶν εἰς πολυσαρκίαν πιαινομένων,
ἀλλ᾽ οἷς ἔθος ἐγγυμνάζεσθαι διὰ ξηρῶν ἱδρώτων
πρὸς τὴν τῶν περὶ τὸν βίον ἀναγκαίων καὶ χρησί-
92 μων κτῆσιν. παυσάσθωσαν καὶ οἱ τῶν

¢ The correction suggested by Mangey and Heinemann
(see note 2, p. 360) would make sacrificing revenues parallel to
letting the land lie idle. I think the text is better as it stands.
Leaving the land idle teaches the poorer to stand the priva-
tion, and the richer to sacrifice wealth voluntarily.

> The allusion, which neither Cohn nor Heinemann notices,
is to Plato, Phaedrus 239 c, where ξηροὶ ἱδρῶτες are coupled
with πόνοι ἀνδρεῖοι, and contrasted with ἁπαλὴ καὶ ἄνανδρος

362

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 88-92

sources of wealth fall almost from their very hands.*
There is also, I think, this third sug- 89
gestion, that men should absolutely abstain from
putting any oppressive burden upon anyone else.
For if the different parts of the earth which cannot
share in any sensations of pain or pleasure yet have
to be given respite, how much more must this be the
case with men who not only possess the sense which
is common also to the irrational animals but even
the special gift of reason through which the painful
feelings caused by toil and labour stamp and record
themselves in mental pictures, more vivid than mere
sensation! Let so-called masters therefore cease 90
from imposing upon their slaves severe and scarcely
endurable orders, which break down their bodies by
violent usage and force the soul to collapse before
the body. You need not grudge to moderate your 91
orders. The result will be that you yourselves will
enjoy proper attention and that your servants will
carry out their orders readily and accept their
duties not just for a short time to be abandoned
through wearying too quickly, and, indeed, we may
say, as if old age had prematurely overtaken them in
their labours. On the contrary, they will prolong
their youth to the utmost, like athletes, not those
who fatten themselves up into full fleshiness, but
those who regularly train themselves by “ dry sweat-
ings ὃ to acquire what is necessary and useful for
life. So too let rulers of cities cease from 92

δίαιτα. ‘The commentators take the phrase as meaning sweats
in the gymnasium as opposed to sweating in the baths, and
so with the verb ξηραλοιφεῖν. Philo, however, does not use it
in this sense, but for toil-enduring people in general who are
in his eyes the true athletes. On the depreciation of athletes
see App. pp. 625-626.

363

PHILO

᾿ πόλεων ἡ ἡγεμόνες φόροις καὶ δασμοῖς συνεχέσι καὶ
᾽

μεγάλοις αὐτὰς ἐκτραχηλίζοντες, οἵ τὰ μὲν ἴδια
4

ταμεῖα πληροῦσιν, ἅμα τοῖς χρήμασι καὶ τὰς

’ “-

ἀνελευθέρους κακίας καὶ τὸν σύμπαντα βίον αὐτῶν

98 ῥυπαινούσας θησαυροφυλακοῦντες. ἀνηλεεστάτους

94 4

95

[288]

yap καὶ yéuovras ἀπανθρωπίας τοὺς τῶν φόρων
ἐκλογεῖς ἐπίτηδες αἱροῦνται τὰς πρὸς πλεονεξίαν
ἀφορμὰς αὐτοῖς ἐνδιδόντες" of δὲ τῇ φυσικῇ σκαιό-
TYTU προσειληφότες καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐπιταγμάτων δε-
σποτικῶν ἐκεχειρίαν καὶ πάντα ὑπὲρ ἀρεσκείας τῆς
ἐκείνων ἐγνωκότες πράττειν οὐδὲν παραλείπουσι
τῶν χαλεπωτάτων, ἐπιείκειαν καὶ ἡμερότητα μηδ᾽
ὄναρ εἰδότες: τοιγάρτοι πάντα φύρουσι καὶ συγ-
χέουσιν ἀργυρολογοῦντες, ὡς μὴ μόνον ἐκ τῶν
οὐσιῶν ἀναπράττειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν σωμάτων,
ὕβρεσιν, αἰκίαις, πρὸς ἀποτομίαν κεκαινουργη-
μέναις βασάνοις: ἤδη δέ τινας ἀκούω
μηδὲ νεκρῶν ἀποσχέσθαι δι᾽ ἀγριότητα καὶ παρ-
ηλλαγμένην λύτταν, οἱ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐθηριώθησαν,
ὡς καὶ τύπτειν ὑστριχίσι τολμᾶν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας"
καὶ ἐπειδή τις τῆς ἄγαν ὠμότητος κατεμέμφετο, εἰ
μηδ᾽ ὁ θάνατος, ἡ κακῶν ἁπάντων ἀπαλλαγὴ καὶ
ὡς ἀληθῶς τελευτή, περιποιήσει τοῖς ἐκποδὼν τὸ
ἀνύβριστον, ἀλλ᾽ ἀντὶ ταφῆς καὶ τῶν νομιζομένων
αἰκίας ὑπομενοῦσιν, ἀπολογίᾳ χείρονι κατηγορίας
ἐχρῶντο φάσκοντες προπηλακίζειν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας,
οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ κωφὴν καὶ ἀναίσθητον κόνιν ὑβρίζειν
-- ἀνωφελὲς γάρ---, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ | τοὺς ἢ κατὰ
γένος ἢ καθ᾽ ἕταιρίαν προσήκοντας εἰς οἶκτον
1 At this point R, as we have it, breaks off.

* I take αὐτῶν to refer to πόλεις, Heinemann apparently
to the ἡγεμόνες.

364

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 92-95

racking them with taxes and tolls as heavy as they
are constant. Such rulers both fill their own coffers
and while hoarding money hoard also illiberal vices
which defile the whole of civic life.* For they pur- 93
posely choose as tax-gatherers the most ruthless
of men, brimful of inhumanity, and put into their
hands resources for overreaching. ‘These persons
add to their natural brutality the immunity they
gain from their masters’ instructions, and in their
determination to accommodate every action to those
masters’ pleasure they leave no severity untried,
however barbarous, and banish mercy and gentle-
ness even from their dreams. And therefore in 94
carrying out their collecting they create universal
chaos and confusion and apply their exactions
not merely to the property of their victims but
also to their bodies, on which they inflict insults
and outrages and forms of torture quite original in
their savagery. Indeed, I have heard of
persons who, actuated by abnormal frenzy and cruelty,
have not even spared the dead, persons who become
so utterly brutalized that they venture even to flog
corpses with whips. And when anyone censured the 95
extraordinary cruelty shewn in refusing to allow
even death, the release and in very truth the “ end”’
of all ills, to procure freedom from insult for those
who are now beyond its reach, and in causing them
to undergo outrage instead of the normal rites of
burial, the line of defence adopted was worse than
the accusation. They treated the dead, they said,
with such contempt not for the useless purpose of
insulting the deaf and senseless dust but in order to
excite the pity of those who were related to them
by birth or some other tie of fellowship, and thus

365

96

97

98

99

PHILO

ἀγαγεῖν καὶ προκαλέσασθαι λύτρα καταθέσθαι τῶν
σωμάτων ὑστάτην ἀπονείμαντας χάριν. ΧΧ. εἶτα,
ὦ φαυλότατοι πάντων ἀνθρώπων, εἴποιμ᾽ ἂν αὖ-
τοῖς, ἃ διδάσκετε, οὐ προεμάθετε; ἢ προκαλεῖσθαι
μὲν εἰς ἔλεον ἑτέρους, εἰ καὶ du ὠμοτάτων ἔργων,
οἴδατε, τὰ δὲ χρηστὰ καὶ φιλάνθρωπα πάντα τῆς
ἑαυτῶν ψυχῆς ἐκτέτμησθε; καὶ ταῦτα μὴ ἀ-
ποροῦντες ἀγαθῶν ὑ ὑφηγητῶν καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἡμε-
τέρων νόμων, οἵ καὶ τὴν γῆν μεθεῖσαν φόρων τῶν
ἐτησίων ἄνεσιν καὶ ἀνάπαυλαν αὐτῇ παρασχόντες;

αὕτη δέ, καίτοι δοκοῦσα ἄψυχος εἶναι,
πρὸς ἀμοιβὴν εὐτρέπισται καὶ χάριτος ἀντίδοσιν,
ἣν ἔλαβε δωρεὰν ἀντεκτίνειν ἐπειγομένη" τυχοῦσα
γὰρ ἀδείας ἔτει ἑβδόμῳ καὶ μὴ πονηθεῖσα, σύμ-
παντα δὲ τὸν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ κύκλον ἀπελευθεριά-
σασα, τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα διπλασίους, ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ
πολυπλασίους, ὑπ᾽ εὐφορίας" ἤνεγκε καρπούς. τὸ
παραπλήσιον μέντοι καὶ τοὺς ἀλείπτας ἔστιν ἰδεῖν
δρῶντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἀθλητῶν" ὅταν γὰρ αὐτοὺς συγ-
κροτήσωσιν ἐπαλλήλοις καὶ συνεχέσι γυμνασίαις,
πρὶν εἰς ἄκρον καμεῖν, ἀνακτῶνται παρέχοντες
ἀνέσεις οὐ μόνον τῶν ἐν ἀθλήσει πόνων ἀλλὰ καὶ
τῶν πρὸς ἐδωδὴν καὶ πόσιν, τὸ σκληροδίαιτον
χαλῶντες εἴς τε ψυχῆς εὐθυμίαν καὶ εὐπάθειαν
σώματος. καὶ οὐ δήπου διδάσκαλοι ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ

1 MSS. ὑπὲρ εὐφορίας Or ὑπὲρ ἐλευθερίας.

-* 436. Philo thinks of the collectors as instructing the rela-
tives on the duty of shewing pity, which they are incom-
petent to do, as they have no conception of pity themselves.
A simpler sense might be obtained, particularly if the ques-
tion marks are dropped and of read for 7—‘‘ Vilest of men,

366

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 95-99

urge them to ransom the bodies of their friends by
making a final gift in payment for them. XX.
Foolish, foolish people, I would say to them, have you 96
not first learnt the lesson which you teach, or are you
competent to induce others to shew pity, even with
the cruellest actions before them,* when you have ex-
scinded all kindly and humane feelings from your own
souls? And this you have done, though you had no
lack of good advisers, particularly in our laws, which
have relieved even the land from its yearly tolls and
provided it with a rest and respite. This 97
land, though to all appearance a lifeless thing, is put
into a condition to make its requital and to repay a
boon which it received as a free gift but is now eager
to return. For the immunity which it has during
the seventh year and its rest from labour and com-
plete freedom during the whole annual cycle give it
a fertility in the next year which causes it to bear
twice as much or even many times as much as in the
previous years. We may also note that the trainers 98
of athletes take much the same line in dealing with
their pupils. When they have thoroughly drilled
them by an unbroken course of exercises, before
they reach the point of exhaustion, they give them a
fresh lease of life by providing relaxations, not only
from the labour of the training itself but from the
dietary regulations as to food and drink, the hard-
ships of which they abate in order to make the
soul cheerful and the body comfortable. And we 99
must not suppose that here we have the professional
trainers to hard work appearing as instructors in

you have not first learnt the lesson which you teach; you
know how to evoke pity, eee with deeds of great cruelty,
yet you have exscinded .

367

PHILO

τρυφῆς εἶσιν ols ἐπάγγελμα τὸ πρὸς πόνους ἀλεί-
φειν, ἀλλὰ μεθόδῳ καὶ τέχνῃ προσποιοῦσιν ἰσχὺν
κραταιοτέραν ἰσχύϊ καὶ δυνάμεις σθεναρωτέρας
δυνάμεσι, τὴν ῥώμην ἀνέσει καὶ ἐπιτάσει καθάπερ

100 ἁρμονίαν συναύξοντες. ἔμαθον δὲ παρὰ τῆς παν-
σόφου ταῦτα φύσεως, ἥτις τὸ ἐπίπονον καὶ καμα-
τηρὸν τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ἐπισταμένη διένειμε τὸν
χρόνον εἰς “ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα, τῇ μὲν ἐγρήγορσιν,

10] νυκτὶ δ᾽ ὕπνον παρασχοῦσα. ροντις γὰρ αὐτὴν
οἷα μητέρα κηδεμονικωτάτην εἰσῆλθε τοῦ μὴ τὰ
ἔγγονα ἀποτρύχεσθαι" μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν γὰρ τὰ σώματα
διανίστησι καὶ πρὸς τὰς τοῦ βίου χρείας καὶ ὑπ-
ηρεσίας ἁπάσας ἐγείρει κακίζουσα τοὺς ἀργῷ καὶ
ἁβροδιαίτῳ βίῳ σχολάζειν ἐθιζομένους, νύκτωρ δὲ
καθάπερ ἐν πολέμῳ τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν ὑποσημήνασα
πρὸς ἀνάπαυλαν καλεῖ καὶ τὴν τῶν σωμάτων

102 ἐπιμέλειαν. ot δ᾽ ἀποθέμενοι πολὺ βάρος πραγ-
ματειῶν, ὅσον ἕωθεν εἰς ἑσπέραν ἦσαν ἐπηχθι-
σμένοι, καὶ ἐπανελθόντες οἴκαδε πρὸς ἡσυχίαν
τρέπονται καὶ καταδαρθόντες ὕπνῳ βαθεῖ τὸν
μεθημερινὸν πόνον ἐκνοσηλεύονται, καὶ πάλιν νεα-

eis καὶ ἀκμῆτες γενόμενοι σπεύδουσιν ἕκαστοι

103 πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ συνήθη. τὸν δόλιχον τοῦτον ἡ
φύσις διά τε ὕπνου καὶ ἐγρηγόρσεως ἀπένειμεν |

[289] ἀνθρώποις, ἃ ἵν᾿ ἐν μέρει μὲν ἐνεργῶσιν, ἐν μέρει δ᾽
ἀτρεμίζοντες ἑτοιμότερα καὶ εὐκινητότερα τὰ τοῦ
σώματος ἴσχωσι μέρη.

104 ΧΧΙ. Πρὸς ἅπερ ἀπιδὼν 6 τοὺς νόμους ἡμῖν
προφητεύσας ἄνεσιν ἐκήρυξε τῇ χώρᾳ δι᾽ ἑξαετίας
γεωπόνους ἐπισχών. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐχ ἕνεκα ὧν εἶπον
αὐτὸ μόνον τοῦτ᾽ εἰσηγήσατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς

868

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 99-104

slackness and luxury ; they are following a scientific
method by which further strength and power is given
to what is already strong and powerful, and vigour
enhanced as though it were a harmony by alternat-
ing relaxation with tension. This truth I have learnt 100
from the never-failing wisdom of nature who, know-
ing how toil-worn and weary our race becomes,
divided our time into day and night, giving the hours
of wakefulness to one and of sleep to the other. For, 101
most careful of mothers, her anxious thought was
that her children should not be exhausted. In the
daylight she wakens our bodies and stimulates them
to carry out all the offices and demands of life, and
reproaches those who are making it their practice to
loiter through life in an idle and voluptuous way. But
at night she sounds the recall as in war and summons
them to repose and take care of their bodies. And 102
men casting off all the sore burden of affairs which
has lain heavy upon them from morn till eve, turn
homewards and betake themselves to rest, and in
the deep sleep which falls upon them cast off the dis-
tempers of their daylight troubles, and then again
unwearied and full of fresh vigour hasten eagerly
each to his own familiar occupation. This double 103
course nature has assigned to men by means of sleep-
ing and waking with the result that by alternating
activity with inaction they have increased readiness
and nimbleness in the various parts of their bodies.
XXI. These considerations the prophetic author 104
of our laws had before his eyes when he proclaimed
a rest for the land and made the husbandman stay
his work after six years. But he gave this enactment
not only on the grounds which I have mentioned but
also moved by that habitual kindliness which he aims

Q

VOL. VII 2B 369

105

106

107

108

PHILO

συνήθους φιλανθρωπίας, ἣν ἅπαντι μέρει τῆς νομο-
θεσίας συνυφαΐίνειν ἀξιοῖ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι ταῖς
ἱεραῖς γραφαῖς κοινωνικὰ καὶ χρηστὰ ἐνσφραγιζό-
μενος ἤθη. κελεύει γὰρ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ ἔτει μηδὲν
συγκλείειν χωρίον, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀμπελῶνας καὶ
ἐλαιῶνας ἀναπεπταμένους ἐᾶν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας κτή-
σεις ὅσαι σπαρτῶν εἰσιν 7 δένδρων, ἵνα τοῖς ἀπ-

A A ε “". ~
᾿αυτοματισθεῖσι καρποῖς ot πένητες ἀδεῶς χρῆσθαι

δύνωνται μᾶλλον ἢ οὐχ ἧττον τῶν κεκτημένων.
ὅθεν τοῖς μὲν δεσπόταις οὐκ ἐφῆκεν ἐργάζεσθαι
στοχασάμενος τοῦ μηδεμιᾶς λύπης αἴτιος αὐτοῖς
γενέσθαι ὡς τὰ μὲν ἀναλώματα παρασχοῦσι, τὰς δ᾽
ἀντὶ τούτων προσόδους μὴ λαμβάνουσι, τοὺς δ᾽
ἀπόρους ὡς ἰδίων ἀπολαύειν τότε γοῦν τῶν ἀλλο-
τρίων εἶναι δοκούντων ἠξίωσε ταπεινοῦ σχήματος
αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλάττων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μεταίταις ὀνειδῶν.
ἄρ᾽ οὐκ ἄξιον ἐρασθῆναι τῶν νόμων, ot τοσαύτης
γέμουσιν ἡμερότητος; δι᾽ ἣν οἱ μὲν πλούσιοι
διδάσκονται μεταδιδόναι καὶ κοινωνεῖν ὧν ἔχουσι,
παρηγοροῦνται δ᾽ οἱ πένητες, μὴ πάντοτε ταῖς τῶν
εὐπόρων οἰκίαις ἐπιφοιτᾶν ἀναγκαζόμενοι πρὸς ἐπ-
ανόρθωσιν ὧν ἐνδεεῖς εἶσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ προσ-
οδευόμενοι καθάπερ ἐξ ἰδίων κτημάτων τοὺς ἁπαυτο-
ματίζοντας, ὡς ἔφην, καρπούς.

χῆραι καὶ ὀρφανοὶ παῖδες καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι τῶν ἡμε-
λημένων καὶ ἀφανῶν ἕνεκα τοῦ μὴ περιουσιάζειν τότε
περιουσιάζουσι ταῖς τοῦ θεοῦ δωρεαῖς ἐξαπιναίως
πεπλουτηκότες, ὃς αὐτοὺς πρὸς κοινωνίαν ἐκάλεσε
τῶν κτητόρων ἐν τῷ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἑβδόμης ἀριθμῷ:

@ Ex. xxiii. 11. In Lev. xxv. 6, 7 the produce of the
seventh year is given as food for the household.

370

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 104-109

at infusing into every part of his legislation, thereby
impressing on the readers of the sacred scriptures
the stamp of good and neighbourly customs. For he 105
forbids them to close up any field during the seventh
year.* All olive-yards and vineyards are to be left
wide open and so with the other kinds of property,
whether of sown crops or orchard-trees, thus giving

an unrestricted use of such fruits as are of natural
growth to the poor quite as much, if not more so,
than to the owners. Thus on the one hand he did 106
not allow the masters to do any work of tillage be-
cause he wished to avoid giving them the painful feel-
ing that they had incurred the expenditure but did
not receive the income in return, and on the other
hand he thought fit that the poor should for this year

at any rate enjoy as their own what appeared to
belong to others, and in this way took from them any
appearance of humiliation or possibility of being re-
proached as beggars. May not our passionate affec- 107
tion well go out to laws charged with such kindly
feeling, which teaches the rich to give liberally and
share what they have with others and encourages the
poor not to be always dancing attendance on the
houses of the wealthy, as though compelled to resort
thither to make up their own deficiency, but some-
times also to come claiming a source of wealth in the
fruits which, as I have said, develop untilled and
which they can treat as their own ?

Widows and orphans and all others who are 108
neglected and ignored because they have no surplus

of income have at this time such a surplus and find
themselves suddenly affluent through the gifts of
God, Who invites them to share with the owners
under the sanction of the holy number seven. And 109

371

PHILO

109 καὶ ὅσοι μέντοι κτηνοτροφοῦσι, μετ᾽ ἀδείας ἐπὶ
χλοηφαγίας τὰ οἰκεῖα θρέμματα ἄγουσιν ἐκλεγό-
μενοι πεδία εὔχορτα καὶ ἐπιτηδειότατα ἐμβόσκε-
σθαι, καταχρώμενοι τῇ τῆς ἐκεχειρίας ἀδείᾳ: καὶ
φθόνος οὐδεὶς ἀπαντᾶται' ἐκ τῶν δεσποτῶν ἅτε
παλαιοτάτῳ ἔθει κεκρατημένων, ὃ σύντροφον ἐκ
μακρῶν χρόνων γενόμενον εἰς φύσιν ἐκνενίκηκεν.

110 XXII. ᾿Αρχὴν ταύτην βαλλόμενος ὥσπερ θε-
μέλιόν τινα ἐπιεικείας καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἑπτὰ
ἑβδομάδας ἐτῶν συνθεὶς τὸ πεντηκοστὸν ὅλον
ἀπέφηνεν ἱερόν, ἐξαίρετα καὶ πάντα διαφερόντως
καλὰ νομοθετήσας ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ παρὰ τὰ κοινωνίαν

111 ἔχοντα. πρῶτον μὲν τόδε: τὰς ἀλλοτριωθείσας
κτήσεις οἴεται δεῖν ἀποδίδοσθαι τοῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς
κυρίοις, ἵν’ αἱ κληρουχίαι τοῖς γένεσι διαφυλάτ-

[290] τωνται | καὶ μηδεὶς τῶν λῆξιν εἰληχότων εἰς ἅπαν

112 στέρηται τῆς δωρεᾶς. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ καιροὶ πολλάκις
προσπίπτουσιν ἀβούλητοι, δι᾿ οὗς ἀναγκάζονταί
τινες πιπράσκειν τὰ ἴδια, καὶ τῆς ἐν δέοντι χρείας
τούτων προὐνόησε καὶ τοὺς ὠνουμένους ἐκώλυσεν
ἀπατᾶσθαι, τοῖς μὲν πιπράσκειν ἐφείς, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐφ᾽

1 So Cohn for ἀπαντᾷ ταῖς οὗ M and ἐκ τῶν δεσποτῶν ἀπαντᾷ
of F. (The latter he rejects on account of the harsh hiatus

before dre, but see on i. 90 (App.).)
2 According to Cohn and Heinemann corrupt; see note ὃ.

¢ For the year of Jubile (§§ 110-123) see Lev. xxv. 8-end.

Ὁ Cohn pronounces these words to be incurably corrupt
and supposes them to express something like “ confirming
the sense of fellow-feeling.” I do not think the meaning I
have given to them, ** those which have a nature common to ©
the others ” (and are not ἐξαίρετα), is impossible, though the
nearest example I can find, iii. 182 μηδεμίαν € ἔχοντα κοινωνίαν,
is not quite analogous. For παρά cf. mapa ταύτας § 216, and
for the antithesis ἐξαίρετον---κοινός ὃ 190. Mangey’s trans-

372

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 109-112

indeed all stock-breeders feel at liberty to take out
their own cattle in search of pasturage and to select
meadow-land of good herbage and particularly suit-
able for grazing their beasts. Thus they take full
advantage of the immunity secured by the time of
freedom. And this is not opposed by any grudging
on the master’s side. They are under the sway of
a very ancient custom, which through long familiarity
has won its way to the standing of nature.

XXII. While laying down this first foundation of 110
moderation and humanity, he built on it by adding
years to the number of seven times seven and
consecrated the whole of the fiftieth year. This he
made the subject of many special enactments, all of
remarkable excellence, apart from those which are
common to other seventh years.2. The first of these 111
enactments is as follows. He considers that alienated
estates ought to be restored to their original pos-
sessors in order that the apportionments should be
secured to the families and that no one to whom they
had been allotted should be altogether deprived of
the grant.° For since times of adversity often arise 112
which make it necessary for some persons to sell their
property, he made provision for the just needs of
such persons and at the same time took steps to
prevent the purchasers being deceived, by accom-
panying the permission to the vendors to sell with
very .clear instructions to the purchasers as to the

lation, ‘‘ supra ea quae ad vulgares annos pertinent,” is not
unlike mine except that he takes παρά = “ beyond,”’ and seems
to see in κοινωνίαν the idea of ordinariness. If my view is
right, the reference may be to Lev. xxv. 11, where the rules
for the Sabbatical year are repeated, also to the liberation of
slaves and remission of debts (cf. § 122).

¢ Lev. xxv. 14-16. |

373

118

PHILO

ze 3 / U “A > 4 \ \

ols ὠνήσονται μάλα σαφῶς ἀναδιδάξας. μὴ yap
δίδοτε, φησί, τὰς ἐπὶ παγκτησίᾳ τιμάς, ἀλλὰ τὰς
πρὸς ἐνιαυτῶν ὡρισμένον ἀριθμόν, ot ἐντός εἰσι
πεντηκονταετίας. οὐ γὰρ κτημάτων αἱ πράσεις
9 \ “A > 4 > \ 4 > 4

ἀλλὰ καρπῶν ὀφείλουσιν εἶναι, διὰ δύο ταἀναγκαιό-
TATA’ ἕν μὲν ὅτι σύμπασα ἡ χώρα κτῆμα κέκληται
θεοῦ, τῶν δὲ θεοῦ κτημάτων οὐχ ὅσιον ἄλλους
ἐπιγράφεσθαι δεσπότας" ἕτερον δὲ (ὅτι) λῆξις
ἀπονενέμηται ἑκάστῳ τῶν κληρούχων, ἧς στέρε-

114 σθαι τὸν λαχόντα οὐκ ἐδικαίωσεν ὁ νόμος. τὸν μὲν

115

116

οὖν ἐντὸς τῆς πεντηκονταετίας δυνάμενον ava-
λαβεῖν τὰ οἰκεῖα ἢ τινα τῶν ἐγγυτάτω γένους
ἀγχιστέων προκαλεῖται πάσῃ μηχανῇ κατατιθέναι
ἣν ἔλαβε τιμὴν καὶ μὴ τῷ πριαμένῳ Kal” ὃν ἔδει
καιρὸν ὠφελήσαντι ζημίας αἴτιον γενέσθαι" τῷ δὲ
ἀπόρως ἔχοντι συνεπάθησε καὶ μετέδωκεν ἐλέου
τὴν ἀρχαίαν δωρησάμενος αὖθις περιουσίαν, δίχα
τῶν κατ᾽ εὐχὴν ἀφιερωθέντων ἀγρῶν ἐν τῇ τάξει
τῶν ἀναθημάτων" ἀνάθημα δ᾽ οὐχ ὅσιον ἀκυροῦ-
σθαι χρόνῳ: διὸ προστέτακται τὴν ἀξίαν τιμὴν
τούτων ἐκλέγειν μηδὲν καταχαρισαμένους τῷ
ποιησαμένῳ τὸ ἀνάθημα.

XXIII. Ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς τῆς χώρας διανομαῖς
καὶ κληρουχίαις διατέτακται" ἕτερα δ᾽ ἐπὶ ταῖς
οἰκίαις. ἐπεὶ δὲ [καὶ] τούτων αἱ μὲν κατὰ πόλεις
ἐντὸς τειχῶν εἰσιν, at δ᾽ ἐν ἀγροῖς ἔξω τείχους
ἐπαύλεις, τὰς μὲν ἐν τοῖς χωρίοις ἐπέτρεψεν 6 νόμος
ἀεὶ λυτροῦσθαι, τὰς δὲ μὴ λυτρωθείσας ἄχρι τοῦ

1 Mss. ἀγρῶ.

@ Lev. xxv. 23. > Lev. xxvii. 16-21.
¢ Lev. xxv. 29-31.

374

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 113-116

terms of the transaction. ‘‘ Do not pay the price,’ 113
he says, “ of complete ownership, but only for a fixed
number of years and a lower limit than fifty.”’ For
the sale should represent not real property but
fruits, and this for two most convincing reasons. One
is that the whole country is called God’s property,*
and it is against religion to have anything that is God’s
property registered under other masters. Another
reason is that each of the holders has a portion
assigned to him by lot, and that this should be taken
from him is contrary to the law’s conception of justice.
Anyone, therefore, who before the fifty years are 114
completed has the means to recover his own property,
or anyone else very closely related to him, is urged by
the lawgiver to take every step to recover the land at
the price which he got for it, and not to occasion loss
to the purchaser who helped him at the time when he
needed it. On the other hand he sympathized with 115
the poor man and shewed him pity by restoring to
him the additional wealth which he originally pos-
sessed, excepting fields which had been dedicated
by a vow, and therefore rank with votive offerings.®
Religion forbids that time should affect the validity
of a votive offering, and therefore it is ordained that
the proper price for such estates should be demanded
and that no concessions should be made to the votary.
XXIII. These are the rules for cases where the 116
apportionments and holdings consist of land. There
are different regulations as to houses. Houses in
some cases belong to cities and are inside the walls,
and others are farm-buildings in the country outside
the walls. Consequently the law allows the latter to
be redeemable at any time, and prescribes that any
that have not been ransomed by the fiftieth year

375

PHILO

πεντηκοστοῦ ἔτους ἀποδίδοσθαι προῖκα τοῖς πάλαι
κυρίοις, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ κτήματα" μοῖρα γὰρ at

117 ἐπαύλεις κτημάτων. ὅσαι δὲ τειχῶν ἐντός εἰσι,
μέχρι μὲν ἐνιαυτοῦ τὴν ἀναπομπὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς πεπρα-
κότας ἔχουσι, μετὰ δὲ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν εἰς ἅπαν τοῖς
ὠνησαμένοις βεβαιοῦνται, μηδὲν τῆς τοῦ πεντη-
κοστοῦ ἔτους ἐκεχειρίας βλαπτούσης τοὺς πρια-

118 μένους. αἴτιον δὲ τὸ βούλεσθαι καὶ ἐπηλύταις
ἱδρύσεως τῆς ἐνταῦθα βεβαίου παρασχεῖν ἀφορμήν'
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ μετουσίαν γῆς οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἅτε μὴ
καταριθμηθέντες ἐ ἐν ταῖς κληρουχίαις, οἰκιῶν αὐτοῖς

[291] κτῆσιν ὁ νόμος ἀπένειμε, φροντίσας τοῦ μὴ | μετ-
ανάστας γενέσθαι τοὺς τῶν νόμων ἱκέτας καὶ πρόσ-

119 φυγας. αἱ γὰρ πόλεις, ὅτε ἐκληροδοτεῦτο ἡ χώρα
κατὰ φυλάς, οὐ διενεμήθησαν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν
ἦσαν συνῳκοδομημέναι, κατὰ τὰς ἐν ἀγροῖς ἐπ-
αὔλεις τῶν οἰκητόρων ποιουμένων τὰς διατριβάς"
ἐξ ὧν ὕστερον ἀναστάντες καὶ συνελθόντες, ἐπίδοσιν
κοινωνίας καὶ φιλίας, ὥσπερ εἰκός, ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ
λαμβανούσης, οἰκίας ἐν ταὐτῷ καὶ πόλεις ἐδει-
μαντο, ὧν καὶ ἐπηλύταις, καθάπερ εἶπον, μετ-
έδοσαν, ἵνα μὴ πάντων ἀποροῖεν καὶ τῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς
καὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεις.

120 XXIV. Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἱερωμένης φυλῆς τάδε νομο-
θετεῖται. γῆς ἀποτομὴν οὐκ ἀπένειμε τοῖς νεω-
κόροις 6 νόμος, ὑπολαβὼν αὐτάρκη πρόσοδον εἶναι
τούτοις τὰς ἀπαρχάς, ὀκτὼ δὲ καὶ τεσσαράκοντα
πόλεις ἀπεκλήρωσεν εἰς οἴκησιν καὶ δισχιλίους

121 ἑκάστῃ πήχεις προάστειον ἐν κύκλῳ. τὰς οὖν ἐν
ταύταις οἰκίας οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ταῖς ἄλλαις,

4 Lev. xxv. 392-34,
376

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 116-121

should be restored without compensation to the former
owner as in the case of real property, for farm-build-

ings are a part of real property. But houses within 117

the walls may be recoverable by the vendors for the
space of a year, but after the year are absolutely
secured to the purchasers who are not liable to suffer
any injury from the general remission in the fiftieth

year. His reason is that he wishes to give the 118

newcomers also a basis on which they may feel
themselves firmly established in the country. For
since they have no apportionment of land as they
were not counted when the holdings were distributed,
the law assigned to them their houses in fee simple in
its anxiety that those who had come as suppliants and
refugees to the laws should not be cast adrift. For
when the land was apportioned according to the tribes
the cities were not distributed, nor indeed built in city
form at all, and the inhabitants took for their dwell-
ings the outbuildings in the country. Subsequently
when they left these and became concentrated as
the feeling of unity and friendship naturally grew
stronger in the course of many years, they built houses
adjacent to each other, thus forming cities. And of
these, as I have said, they assigned a share to the new-
comers, to prevent them finding themselves cut off from
holding property both in the country and in the cities.

XXIV. The legislation with regard to the conse-
crated tribe is as follows. The temple-keepers were
not allotted a section of land by the law, which
considered that they were sufficiently provided for
by the first-fruits, but assigned them instead forty-
eight cities to dwell in, with a surrounding frontage in
each case of two thousand cubits. Houses within
these were not, like the others within the walls,

377

119

120

12]

PHILO

ὅσαι τειχῶν εἴσω τυγχάνουσιν, ἐβεβαίωσε τοῖς
πριαμένοις, ἐντὸς ἐνιαυτοῦ τῶν ἀποδιδομένων κομί-
σασθαι μὴ δυναμένων, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ἅπαν ἐφῆκεν αὐτὰς
λυτροῦσθαι, καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους τὰς
ἐπαύλεις αἷς ἰσοδυναμοῦσιν, ἐπειδὴ μόνας ἐκ
τοσαύτης χώρας διεκληρώσαντο τὰς οἰκίας, ὧν οὐκ
” a 4 \ / Ul 0."
ᾧετο δεῖν στέρεσθαι τοὺς λαβόντας, καθάπερ οὐδὲ
“a 4 “A
τοὺς κληρούχους τῶν ἐπαύλεων. οἰκιῶν μὲν δὴ
πέρι τοσαῦτα.

122 XXV. Ta δὲ πρὸς χρεώστας δανειστῶν καὶ πρὸς
θεράποντας δεσποτῶν ὅμοια τοῖς πρόσθεν νομοθε-
τεῖται, ὅπως οἱ μὲν δανεισταὶ μὴ ἐκλέγωσι τόκους
παρὰ τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον προήκαντο μόνον

e 4 A >
ἄσμενοι κομίζωνται, ot δὲ δεσπόται τοῖς apyup-
’ὔ \ e 4 4 9 9 e aA

ὠνήτοις μὴ ws φύσει δούλοις ἀλλ᾽ ὡς μισθωτοῖς
, 3

προσφέρωνται, παρέχοντες ἄδειαν ἐλευθερίας, εὐθὺς

A ~ 4
μὲν τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν λύτρα κατατιθέναι δυναμένοις,
A /
αὖθις δὲ τοῖς ἀπόροις ἢ ὅταν ἐπιγένηται 6 ἀπ᾽
> ~ 4 e 3 \ av ω ¢

ἀρχῆς δουλείας ἕβδομος ἐνιαυτὸς ἢ ὅταν ὁ πεντη-

κοστός, κἂν πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τύχῃ τις εἰς δουλείαν
e 4 3

ὑπαχθείς: ἄφεσις γὰρ ὁ χρόνος ἐκεῖνός ἐστι καὶ

’
νενόμισται, πάντων ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχαίας διαυλο-
’

128 δρομούντων Kal ἀνακαμπτόντων εὐπραγίας. ἐπι-
9 3 ~ \ e 4 ae > ¢ /
τρέπει δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν μὴ ὁμοφύλων [οἵτινες ἐξ ἑτέρων
ἐθνῶν εἰσιν] οἰκέτας κτᾶσθαι, βουλόμενος πρῶτον

\ ὃ \ > ’ \ LAA ’ Ων ”
μὲν διαφορὰν οἰκείων τε Kal ἀλλοτρίων εἶναι, ἔπειτα
δὲ μὴ κατὰ τὸ παντελὲς ἀναγκαιότατον κτῆμα,

oe Lay population ” seems to be the meaning required for
τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους, but I do not know of any similar use of
ἔθνος. The phrase is used of the nation in general in i. 54.
Possibly ἄλλου has fallen out. (Heinemann strangely trans-
lates it by“ ‘members of the other tribes,’’ with: no hint as to
how it is to be obtained from the Greek.)

378

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 121-123

secured to the purchasers, if the vendors could not
find the means to redeem them within the year, but
were liable to be redeemed for an unlimited period
just as the lay population? could redeem the farm
buildings, to which the dwelling-houses of the Levites
correspond. For these were all that fell to their
share in that great territory, and thus he considered
that being once received they ought not to be taken
back, any more than the farm-buildings in the case
of those to whom the holdings were apportioned.
So much for the subject of houses.

XXV. Similar rules to those already stated are 192

laid down as to the relations between creditors and
debtors and between servants and masters.° Creditors
are not to exact interest from their fellow-nationals
but to be content with recovering what they pro-
vided. Masters are to treat their purchased slaves
as their hired servants, not as their slaves by nature,
and give them secure access to liberty on the spot if
they can provide their ransom, or in the case of the
needy at a later time, when either the seventh year
from the beginning of their slavery or the fiftieth
arrives, in the latter case even though only a single
day has elapsed since the man was reduced to that
condition. For that time is accepted as the remis-
sion and actually is such, when all reverse their
course and turn back to the prosperity of the past.
But the law does permit the acquisition of slaves
from other nations® for two reasons; first, that a dis-
tinction should be made between fellow-countrymen
and aliens; secondly, that that most indispensable
possession, domestic service, should not be absolutely

® Lev. xxv. 35-41. As Philo observes, the two sections really
repeat the substance of §§ 71-85. ¢ Lev. xxv. 44.

379

123

124

125

PHILO

θεράποντας, ἀνεῖρξαι THs αὑτοῦ πολιτείας" μυρία
γὰρ τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ πραγμάτων ποθεῖ τὰς ἐκ δούλων
ὑπηρεσίας.ἦ
δι" 4 4 μ 3 \ \ 4

Υἱοὶ κληρονόμοι γονέων ἔστωσαν, εἰ δὲ μὴ εἶεν,
θυγατέρες. ws γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει γυναικῶν dvSpes
πρωτοστατοῦσι, κἀν ταῖς συγγενείαις, ἐχέτωσαν
προνομίαν διαδεχόμενοι τὰς οὐσίας καὶ τὴν τῶν
τετελευτηκότων τάξιν ἐκπληροῦντες ἀνάγκης νόμῳ
κατασχεθέντων" οὐδὲν θνητὸν (Kal) γηγενὲς ἀθανα-

/ U4 4 OA > A > 9
τίζοντι. “παρθένοι δὲ ἐὰν ἀπολειφθῶσιν ἀνέκδοτοι,

προικὸς ὑπὸ ζώντων ἐ ἔτι τῶν γονέων μὴ διωρισμέ-

126

νης, ἰσομοιρείτωσαν. τοῖς ἄρρεσιν. ἐπιμελείσθω.
δ᾽ ἡ προεστῶσα ἀρχὴ φυλακῆς τε τῶν ἀπολειφθει-
σῶν" καὶ αὐξήσεως καὶ τῶν εἰς δίαιταν καὶ παι-
δείαν τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν κόραις ἀναλωμάτων καΐ,
ὁπότε γένοιτο ὥρα, [καὶ] γάμου τοῦ πρέποντος,
ἀνδρῶν ἐν’ ἅπασι δοκίμων ἀριστίνδην ἐπικριθέντων.
ἔστωσαν δ᾽ οὗτοι μάλιστα μὲν συγγενεῖς, εἰ δὲ μή,
πάντως γοῦν δημόται καὶ φυλέται, χάριν τοῦ μὴ
τοὺς κλήρους τοὺς προικιδίους" ἐπιγαμίαις ἀλλο-

1 Here F comes to an end as far as this treatise is concerned,
and we are left dependent upon M and the occasional ex-
cerpts of Nicetas. As there are no such excerpts from the
sections on the law of inheritance which follow down to § 139,
they did not appear in Hoeschel’s edition, and consequently
are also absent in Mangey’ Ss whose Pp. 291 ends with ὑπηρεσίας
and p. 292 begins with ἑπόμενοι καὶ τῇ τάξει, § 140. On a
probable lacuna in M at this point see note a.

2 MS. κατασχεθέντες. ᾿ MS. ἀπολειφθέντων.

4 MS. μὲν. 5 MS. πρὸς ἰδίους.

¢ The sections which follow down to § 139 seem entirely
out of place here and have nothing to do with the sequence
of thought, which has hitherto carried him on from the

380

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 123-126

excluded from his commonwealth. For the course
of life contains a vast number of circumstances which
demand the ministrations of slaves.

α The heirs of parents are to be sons, or failing sons
daughters. For just as in nature men take prece-
dence of women, so too in the scale of relationships
they should take the first place in succeeding to the
property and filling the position of the departed
which they have ceased to hold, debarred by an in-
evitable law which admits to immortality nothing
that is mortal or earth-born. But if virgins are left
without a dower, nothing of the kind having been
settled on them by the parents while still alive, they
should share equally with the males. The charge
of protecting the girls left thus desolate and super-
intending their development, and the expenses of
providing anything required for their maintenance
and education as befits maidens should fall upon the
head magistrate®; also when the time comes, the
duty of arranging a suitable marriage and choosing
husbands who are selected on their merits and

124

125

approved in all respects. And these should be, if 126

possible, of the same family as the girls, or if that
cannot be, at any rate of the same ward and tribe, in
order that the portions assigned as dowry should not

Sabbath day to the Sabbatical year, and thence to the fiftieth
year and the regulations connected with the ,last two. Cohn
thinks that a connexion is to be found in Lev. xxv. 46, where
after permitting the purchase of foreign slaves it continues
“γα shall make them an inheritance”’ (Lxx καταμεριεῖτε, “ ye
shall distribute ’’) “to your children.” If this is right, it can
hardly be doubted, as Cohn says, that some words have
fallen out which would shew the connexion.

> See Num. xxvii. 8-11, cf. Mos. ii. 243 ff.

¢ Or “the chief civil authority.”” See App. p. 626.

381

127

128

129

180

PHILO

τριοῦσθαι, μένειν δ᾽ ἐν ταῖς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τεταγμέναις
A \ ᾽’ oA A “A 7 an
κατὰ φυλὰς λήξεσιν. ἐὰν δὲ γενεᾶς ἔρημος ὧν
Ul ’ > A \ A > \ “-ῴ
τυγχάνῃ, παρίτωσαν ἐπὶ τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀδελφοὶ τοῦ
τετελευτηκότος" ἡ γὰρ μεθ᾽ υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας ἐν
’ U > A 3 3 \ 9 ’ὔ 4

συγγενείαις τάξις ἀδελφῶν ἐστιν. εἰ δὲ ἀνάδελφός
τις εἴη τελευτῶν, θεῖοι πρὸς πατρὸς διαδεχέσθωσαν
τὴν οὐσίαν, θείων δὲ μὴ ὄντων, θεῖαι," (εἶτα, τῶν
ἄλλων οἰκείων καὶ συγγενῶν ol) ἐγγυτάτω “ὃ
σπάνις δ᾽ εἰ καταλάβοι τῆς συγγενείας, ὡς μηδένα

“- 9.5 υ > A
τῶν ἀφ αἵματος ἀπολειφθῆναι, ἡ φυλὴ κληρονόμος
ἔστω: συγγένεια γάρ τίς ἐστι καὶ ἡ φυλὴ κατὰ
περιγραφὴν μείζονα καὶ τελειοτέραν.
ἄξιον μέντοι τὸ διαπορηθὲν ὑπ᾽ ἐνίων {μὴν ἡσυχα-
σθῆναι" διὰ τί, γάρ φασι, πάντων «συγγενῶν καὶ
δημοτῶν καὶ φυλετῶν ἐπιμνησθεὶς ὁ νόμος ἐν ταῖς
τῶν κλήρων διαδοχαῖς γονεῖς μόνους παρεσιώπησεν,
οὗς εἰκὸς 7 ἦν, ὥσπερ κληρονομοῦνται, κληρονομεῖν
τὰ παίδων; ὅτι, @ γενναῖε, θεῖος ὧν καὶ τὴν τῆς
φύσεως diodovlay κα εν. oxondy οὐδὲν φήθη
χρῆναι παλίμφημον εἰσηγεῖσθαι: “γονέων μὲν γὰρ
εὐχαί, ζῶντας ἀπολιπεῖν οὗς ἐγέννησαν, διαδεξο-
μένους" ὄνομά τε αὐτῶν καὶ γένος καὶ οὐσίαν,
> A \ 3 ’ 3 \ > ’ 4
ἐχθρῶν δὲ ἀμειλίκτων ἀραὶ τἀναντία, προαποθνή-
σκειν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας τῶν φυσάντων. ὅπως

1 MS. τῶν τετελευτηκότων.

2 As aunts are not mentioned in Num. xxvii. nor in the
parallel passage in Philo (Mos. ii. 245), θεῖαι might perhaps
be expunged. In that case there would be no need for Cohn’s

insertion of εἶτα.
3 MS. ἐγγυτέρω. 4 Ms. διαδεξαμένους.

° See Num. xxxvi. 6 ff. The point that they should, if
possible, marry into the same family is not there expressly
stated, but might be fairly inferred from v. 11, where it is

382

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 126-130

be alienated by inter-marriage with other tribes, but
should retain the place given to them in the allot-
ments originally made on the basis of tribes.* But if 127
the deceased has no descendants, the brothers must
proceed to the succession, for brothers rank next in
tables of relationship with sons and daughters. If
the dead man has no brother, the succession must pass
to the uncles on the father’s side, and if there are no
uncles, to the aunts, and then to the next nearest
among their other connexions or kinsfolk. But if 128
kinsfolk are so scarce that no blood-relation remains,
then the tribe shall be the heir.’ For the tribe is in
a sense a kinship with a wider and more all-embracing
compass. ¢One question, however, which 129
is raised by some inquirers should not be passed over in
silence. Why, they ask, does the Law when dealing
with the regulations of inheritance mention kinsmen
of every degree and fellow-wardsmen and fellow-
tribesmen, but leaves parents alone unmentioned who
would naturally inherit from the children as the
children do from them? The answer, good sir, is that
the law, God-given as it is, and ever desirous to follow
the course of nature, held that no sinister thought
should be introduced. Parents pray that they may
leave behind them alive the children they have be-
gotten to succeed to their name, race and property,
and the imprecations of their implacable enemies
are just the opposite, that the sons and daughters
may die before their parents. Now he did not 130

said that the daughters of Zelophehad married their first
cousins. For ‘‘ ward and tribe”’ see on § 82.

> Not stated in Num. xxvii. Probably (as Cohn and
Heinemann) deduced from the intention of the law to prevent
the inheritance passing from one tribe to another (xxxvi. 9).

¢ For §§ 129-132 cf. Mos. ii. 244, 245.

383

PHILO

οὖν μηδὲν ἀνάρμοστον Kal ἀσύμφωνον ἐν ἁρμονίᾳ
καὶ συμφωνίᾳ, Kal” ἣν διοικεῖται σύμπας ὁ κόσμος,
διαγορεύῃ, παίδων μὲν ἀποθνῃσκόντων, γονέων δ᾽
ἐπιβιούντων, ἀναγκαίως ἅμα καὶ πρεπόντως οὐ
προσέταξε μητέρας [ἅμα] καὶ πατέρας τὰ υἱῶν καὶ
θυγατέρων κληρονομεῖν, εἰδὼς μὴ συνᾷδον τὸ
18] πρᾶγμα βίῳ τε καὶ φύσει. φυλαξάμενος οὖν
γυμνοῖς ὀνόμασι καλέσαι γονεῖς ἐπὶ παίδων τετε-
λευτηκότων κληρονομίαν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ δοκεῖν
ἀπευκτὴν ὠφέλειαν προσνέμων ὀνειδίζειν πενθοῦσιν
ἢ ὑπομιμνήσκειν κακοπραγιῶν, ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ τὰς
οὐσίας ἀπένειμεν αὐτοῖς, βραχὺ παρηγόρημα με-
182 γάλου κακοῦ. τίς οὖν ὁ τρόπος; ἀδελφὸν πατρὸς
γράφει κληρονόμον ἀδελφιδῶν, ἢ που διὰ τὸν
πατέρα τὸν θεῖον γεραίρων" εἰ μή τις οὕτως ἠλίθιός
ἐστιν, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνειν ὅτι ἕτερον τιμῶν ἑτέρου
χάριν ἀτιμοῦν ἐκεῖνον προαιρεῖται" μὴ καὶ τοὺς τῶν
φίλων γνωρίμους οἱ περιέποντες ἀμελεῖς τῶν ἑταί-
ρων" εἰσίν; ἢ Cod) πάντων εὐνοϊκώτατοι κηδεμόνες
τῶν ἐπὶ τιμῇ καὶ ἑταίρους" ἀποδέχονται; τὸν αὐτὸν
δὴ τρόπον καὶ ὁ νόμος διὰ πατέρα καλέσας ἀδελφὸν
πατρὸς ἐπὶ μετουσίαν κλήρου πολὺ πρότερον πατέρα
καλεῖ, φωνῇ μὲν οὔ, διὰ τὰ λεχθέντα, γνωριμωτέρᾳ

1 Ms. κλῆρον. 2 MS. ἑτέρων. .. ἑτέρους.

« Cf. Mos. ii. 245 καὶ τοῦ πρέποντος καὶ τοῦ μὴ τὴν οὐσίαν
ἀλλοτριωθῆναι, which suggests that the ‘‘ necessity ’’ here is to
keep the property in the family.

> After τιμῇ sc. τῶν γνωρίμων. But the whole sentence is
very awkward and may contain some corruption besides the
omission of ov. Heinemann’s translation, ‘‘ lassen sie nicht

384:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 130-132

wish to speak plainly of anything so out of tune
with and discordant to the harmony and concord
which prevails throughout the cosmic order as the
death of children while the parents survive, and there-
fore he complied both with necessity and decency in
not ordaining that mothers and fathers should inherit
from their sons and daughters. He knew that such
an event was not in accordance with the ordinary
course of life or with nature. So while he avoided 131
appointing the parents in undisguised terms as heirs
to the property of their dead children, lest by assign-
ing to them an acquisition of so undesirable a kind
he should seém to be casting a slur upon their mourn-
ing or reminding them of their misfortunes, he
adopted another way of conveying the ownership to
them, a simple specific for a great mischief. What 132
was this way? He declares the father’s brothers to
be the heirs of their nephews, a privilege doubtless
given to the uncle for the sake of the father, unless
anyone is foolish enough to suppose that a person who
honours A for the sake of B is deliberately dishonour-
ing B. [5 it the case that those who pay court to the
acquaintances of their friends are neglecting those
friends? Is it not rather the truth that their
affectionate care for all that might honour these
acquaintances ὃ shews regard for the friends also?
On the same principle the law, when it nominates
the father’s brother to share in the inheritance
because of his relationship to the father, much more
nominates the father, not in actual words it is true
for reasons already stated, but with a force more

die Ehrung ihrer Freunde in jeder Weise mit grisster Auf-
merksamkeit angelegen sein,’’ does not seem to represent the
Greek as it stands.

VOL. VII Qc 385

PHILO

δὲ φωνῆς δυνάμει τρανούσῃ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ
νομοθέτου.

133 Παίδων ὁ πρεσβύτατος οὐκ ἰσομοιρεῖ τοῖς μετ᾽
αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ διπλασίων ἀξιοῦται, διότι τε ἀνὴρ καὶ
γυνὴ πρότερον ὑπάρχοντες αὖθις ἐγένοντο πατὴρ
καὶ μήτηρ διὰ τὸν φύντα πρῶτον καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὁ

(πρῶτος) γενόμενος τούτοις ἀνακαλεῖν ἤρξατο τοῖς
ὀνόμασι τοὺς ᾿σπείραντας καὶ -τὸ ἀναγκαιότατον---
ὅτι ὁ πρὸ τοῦ γενεᾶς ἔρημος οἶκος εὔπαις ἐγένετο
πρὸς τὴν τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαμονήν, 7) ἧς"
σπορὰ μὲν γάμος, καρποὶ δὲ τέκνων γενέσεις, ὧν ὁ

184 πρεσ ύτατος ἀρχή. διὰ ταύτην γ᾽ οἶμαι τὴν αἰτίαν
οἱ πρωτότοκοι τῶν μὲν ἄσπονδα εἰργασμένων
ἐχθρῶν, ὡς αἱ ἱεραὶ γραφαὶ δηλοῦσι, μιᾷ νυκτὶ
πάντες ἡβηδὸν ἀνῃρέθησαν, τῶν δ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους
χαριστήριον. ἀνετέθησαν θεῷ καθιερωθέντες" ἔδει
γὰρ τοὺς μὲν βαρυτάτῳ καὶ ἀπαρηγορήτῳ πένθει
βαρῦναι, φθορᾷ τῶν πρωτοστατούντων, “γεραίρειν
δὲ τὸν σωτῆρα θεὸν ἀπαρχαῖς, αἱ τὴν ἐν τέκνοις

135 ἡγεμονίαν ἔλαχον. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ εἰσί τινες οἵ
μετὰ γάμον καὶ παἰδοποιίαν ὀψὲ σωφροσύνην ἀπο-
μαθόντες ἐξώκειλαν εἰς ἀκρασίαν καὶ ἐπιμανέντες
γυναιξὶν ἑτέραις τὰς «προτέρας ἐκάκωσαν καὶ τοῖς
ἐξ ἐκείνων οὐκέθ' ὡς πατέρες ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πατρωοὶ
προσηνέχθησαν ἀπομιμησάμενοι τὸ μητρυιῶν εἰς

1 Cohn in a note to Heinemann’s translation would correct
to εἰ σπορὰ, but with no improvement of the sense that I can
see.

α This statement is founded on Deut. xxi. 15-17. See

App. pp. 626-627. > Cf. Mos. i. 135.
¢ ἐπεί, which has no logical apodosis, is omitted in the
translation.

386

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 132-135

recognizable than words, leaving no doubt of the
intention of the lawgiver.

The eldest son does not share equally with his
juniors, but is adjudged a double portion, one reason
being that his parents who before were but man and
wife, owe to the first-born the fact that they have
later become father and mother. Another is that it
is their first-born who began to use these names in
addressing his parents. The third reason is the most
important, that what was before their birth a house
of barren stock has become fruitful for the preser-
vation of the human race, a preservation which
is sown in marriage and fructified in the birth of
children, starting with the eldest. This was the
reason, I suppose, that the first-born sons of the
enemies who had shewn themselves so merciless in
action, were cut off in wholesale massacre in a
single night, as the Holy Scriptures tell us, while
the first-born of our nation were dedicated by
consecration as a thank-offering to God. For it
was just that on the enemy should fall the weight
of a blow for which no consolation was _ possible,
namely, the destruction of their foremost rank,
while God Who wrought the salvation was honoured
by the dedication as first-fruits of those who
headed the line of children. ¢But there
are some who after marrying and begetting children
unlearn in their later days what they knew of
self-restraint and are wrecked on the reef of in-
continence. Seized with a mad passion for other
women, they maltreat those who hitherto belonged
to them and behave to the children they have
begotten by them as though they were uncles
rather than fathers, copy the unrighteousness shewn

387

pad

33

134

135

136

137

138

139

PHILO

mpoyovous δυσσεβὲς καὶ ὅλως ἑαυτοὺς Kal τὰ ἕαυ-
τῶν ἐξέδωκαν ταῖς δευτέραις καὶ παισὶ τοῖς τούτων
ἡδονῆς, αἰσχίστου πάθους, ἥττους γενόμενοι,
χαλινὸν μὲν εἴ πως οἷόν τε ἦν ἐμβαλεῖν ταῖς ἐπι-
θυμίαις ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἀνασκιρτᾶν ἐπὶ πλέον οὐκ ἂν
ἐμέλλησεν 6 νόμος. ἐπεὶ δὲ μανίαν ἐξηγριωμένην
οἴστρῳ χαλεπὸν μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀδύνατον ἰάσασθαι, τὸν
μὲν ὡς ἀθεραπεύτῳ νόσῳ κατεσχημένον ἀπέλιπε,
τὸν δ᾽ ἐκ τῆς διὰ τοὺς νέους ἔρωτας κακωθείσης
υἱὸν οὐχ ὑπερεῖδε κελεύσας αὐτὸν λαμβάνειν δι-
πλάσια τὰ ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διανομῆς.
αἴτια δὲ τούτου πολλά: πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ κολάζει
τὸν ὑπαίτιον ἀνάγκην ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῷ ποιεῖν εὖ ὃν
κακῶς διατιθέναι προαιρεῖται, καὶ τῆς ἀγνώμονος
γνώμης ἄκυρον ἀποφαΐίνει du’ ὧν ὠφελεῖ τὸν κινδυ-
νεύσαντα πρὸς ἐκείνου' ζημιωθῆναι τάττων αὑτὸν
ἐν τῇ τάξει τοῦ γεγεννηκότος, ἣν 6 φύσει πατὴρ ἐπὶ
πρεσβυτάτου παιδὸς ἔλιπε. εύτερον δὲ
ἔλεον καὶ οἶκτον λαμβάνει τῶν ἠδικημένων, ovs
βαρυτάτης ἀνίας ἐπελαφρίζει μετουσίᾳ χάριτος καὶ
δωρεᾶς" οὐδὲν γὰρ ἧττον τοῦ κληρονομοῦντος υἱοῦ
τὴν διπλασίαν μοῖραν εἰκὸς ἦν ἤδεσθαι τὴν μητέρα,
φιλανθρωπίᾳ νόμου παρηγορηθεῖσαν, ὃς οὐκ εἴασεν
αὐτήν τε καὶ γενεὰν εἰς ἅπαν ἐχθρῶν ἐλαττοῦσθαι.

τρίτον dé: βραβευτὴς ὧν τῶν δικαίων
ἀγαθὸς ἐλογίσατο παρ᾽ ἑαυτῷ, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν ἐκ τῆς
στεργομένης ἐπεδαψιλεύσατο τὰς χορηγίας 6 πατὴρ

1 MS. ἐκεῖνο.

α For the allegorizing of this law (Deut. xxi. 15-17) éf.
De Sac. 20, De Sob. 21 ff.

388

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 135-139

by stepmothers to the first family and altogether
devote themselves and all they have to the second
wives and their children, overcome by the vilest of
passions, voluptuousness. Such lusts the law would
not have hesitated to bridle if it were possible, and
prevent them from frisking and plunging still more.
But since it is difficult, or rather impossible, to heal 136
the frenzy goaded into savagery, it left the father to
his fate as one in the grip of an incurable disease but
did not disregard the son of the wife who was wronged
through his passion for another, but bade him take
the double portion in the distribution between the
brothers. There are several reasons for this. In 187
the first place, it punishes the culprit by forcing him
to give good treatment to the person to whom he
intended to give the reverse and renders him in-
capable of carrying out his ill-judged judgement.
This it effects by conferring benefits on the person
who was likely to suffer loss at his hands, and by
taking upon itself the parental position which had
been abandoned by the natural father in so far as
the eldest child was concerned. Secondly,
it shews mercy and pity for the victims of injustice
whom it relieves of a very grievous trouble by en-
abling them to share in the boon thus bestowed.
For naturally we may suppose that the gratification
felt by the son at obtaining the double portion is
shared by the mother, encouraged as she is by the
humanity of the law which refuses to allow her
and her family to lie entirely at the mercy of her
enemies. And there was a third reason. 139
Being gifted with a power to judge justly, it re-
flected that the father had bestowed his bounties
generously on the children of the beloved wife

389

μ--ἰ

98

[299]

140

14]

PHILO

διὰ τὸν πόθον τῆς γυναικός, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐκ τῆς στυ-
γηθείσης οὐδενὸς [ἢ] παντάπασιν ἠξίωσε διὰ τὸ
τῆς μητρὸς ἔχθος, ὡς ἐκείνους μὲν ἔτι ζῶντος" προ-
κεκληρονομηκέναι πλείω τῆς ἰσομοιρίας, τούτους
δὲ κινδυνεῦσαι καὶ τελευτήσαντος ἁπάντων ἀφ-
αἱρεθῆναι τῶν πατρῴων. ἵν᾽ οὖν ἐπανισώσῃ τὴν
διανομὴν τοῖς ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν γυναικῶν, ὥρισε
ἱμοιρίαν τὰ πρεσβεῖα τῷ τῆς ἀπηλλαγμένης παιδί.
τούτων μὲν δὴ ἅλις.

XXVI. | ᾿Ἑπόμενοι δὲ τῇ τάξει τρίτον εἶδος
ἀναγράφομεν ἑορτῆς, ὃ σημανοῦμεν. ἔστι δὲ
νουμηνία κατὰ σελήνην, χρόνος" ὁ ἀπὸ συνόδου ἐπὶ
σύνοδον, ὃν μαθηματικῶν παῖδες εὖ μάλα διηριθμή-
σαντο. τὴν δ᾽ ἐν ἑορταῖς ἔλαχε τάξιν νουμηνία
διὰ πολλά: πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἀρχὴ μηνός, ἀρχὴ δὲ
καὶ ἀριθμοῦ καὶ χρόνου τίμιον" ἔπειτα δὲ ὅτι κατ᾽
αὐτὴν οὐδὲν ἀφώτιστον ἐν οὐρανῷ’ συνόδῳ μὲν
γὰρ ὑποδραμούσης ἥλιον σελήνης τὸ πρὸς γῆν
μέρος ἐζόφωται, νουμηνίᾳ δὲ πέφυκεν ἀναλάμπειν.
τρίτον δὲ ὅτι τῷ ἐλάττονι καὶ ἀσθενεστέρῳ κατ᾽
ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ δυνατώτερον
ὠφελείας ἀναγκαίας μεταδίδωσι: νουμηνίᾳ γὰρ
ἄρχεται φωτίζειν αἰσθητῷ φέγγει σελήνην ὁ ἥλιος,

1 ms. ζῶντας.
2 On the text here see note ὁ.

* 2,6. in asserting the rights of the eldest son it asserts
those of the first family as a whole.

> For the New Moon see i. 177. Lit. ‘Sit, the new-
month-day, according to the moon, the time”’ etc. 7.e. the
new moon is the time between the conjunctions. This,
though unnoticed by Cohn and Heinemann, cannot, as it
seems to me, have been stated by Philo. I suggest some
such insertion as ἔστι yap ὁ μὴν κατὰ σελήνην, which might

390

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 139-141

because of his affection for her, but left the children
of the hated wife entirely out of consideration
owing to his hostility to their mother, so that the
former even in his lifetime inherited more than
their equal share, and the latter might expect at his
death to find themselves robbed of the whole patri-
mony. And therefore it decreed that the son of the
discarded wife should have the eldest son’s privilege
of the double share, in order to equalize the parti-
tion between both families.* Enough on _ these
matters.

XXVI. Following the order stated above, we record 140
the third type of feast which we will proceed to ex-
plain. This is the New Moon, or beginning of the
lunar month,’ namely the period between one con-
junction and the next, the length of which has been
accurately calculated in the astronomical schools.
The new moon holds its place among the feasts for
many reasons. First, because it is the beginning of
the month, and the beginning, both in number and
in time, deserves honour. Secondly, because when it
arrives, nothing in heaven is left without light, for
while at the conjunction, when the moon is lost to
sight under the sun, the side which faces earth is
darkened, when the new month begins it resumes
its natural brightness. The third reason is, that the 141
stronger or more powerful element at that time
supplies the help which is needed to the smaller and
weaker. For it is just then that the sun begins to
illumine the moon with the light which we perceive

easily have fallen out after the preceding κατὰ σελήνην.
Nicetas, who resumes his excerpts here, has τρίτην ἑορτὴν
ἀναγράφομεν THY κατὰ σελήνην νουμηνίαν. πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι κτλ.
Of course in a country where non-lunar months are observed
such an explanation is perfectly natural.

391

142

148

PHILO

ἡ δὲ TO ἴδιον κάλλος avadaiver τοῖς ὁρῶσι. τοῦτο

δ᾽ ἐναργής ἐστιν, ὡς ἔοικε, διδασκαλία χρηστότητος
καὶ φιλανθρωπίας, ἵνα μηδέποτε τῶν ἰδίων ἀγαθῶν
ἄνθρωποι φθονῶσιν, ἀλλὰ μιμούμενοι τὰς ἐν
οὐρανῷ μακαρίας καὶ εὐδαίμονας φύσεις ὑπερόριον
τῆς ψυχῆς βασκανίαν ἐλαύνωσι καὶ “προφέροντες
εἰς μέσον τὰ οἰκεῖα κοινοπραγῶσι καὶ χαρίζωνται
τοῖς ἀξίοις. τέταρτον δὲ ὅτι τῶν κατ᾽ οὐρανὸν
ἁπάντων ἐν ἐλάττονι προθεσμίᾳ σελήνη τὸν Cwo-
φόρον περιπολεῖ' μηνιαίῳ γὰρ διαστήματι τὸν
κύκλον ἀνύτει. διὸ καὶ τὸ συμπέρασμα τῆς
περιόδου, τελευτώσης ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἤρξατο
φέρεσθαι σελήνης, τετίμηκεν ὁ νόμος προσειπὼν
ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν ἑορτήν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ πάλιν ἡμᾶς
ἀναδιδάξαι μάθημα κάλλιστον, ἵν᾽ ἐν ταῖς τοῦ βίου
πράξεσι τὰ τέλη συνῳδὰ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ἀποφαίνωμεν᾽
γενήσεται δὲ τοῦτ᾽, ἐὰν λογισμῷ τὰς πρώτας
ἡνιοχῶμεν ὁρμὰς μὴ ἐπιτρέποντες αὐταῖς ἀφηνιά-
ew καὶ ,ἀνασκιρτᾶν τρόπον θρεμμάτων ἀγελάρχην
οὐκ ἐχόντων. ἃς δὲ παρέχεται τοῖς
ἐπὶ γῆς" ἅπασιν ὠφελείας σελήνη, τί χρὴ διεξιόντα
μηκύνειν; ἐμφανεῖς γὰρ αἱ πίστεις. ἢ οὐχὶ ταῖς
αὐξήσεσιν αὐτῆς ἀναχέονται ποταμοὶ καὶ πηγαὶ
καὶ μειοῦνται πάλιν μειώσεσι, καὶ πελάγη τοτὲ
μὲν ἐξαναχωρεῖ καὶ ἀμπωτίζοντα ὑποσύρεται τοτὲ
ἐξαπιναίως ἐπιτρέχει κατὰ παλίρροιαν, ὅ τε
ἀὴρ αἰθρίαις καὶ νεφώσεσι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις μετα-
βολαῖς παντοίας ἐνδέχεται τροπάς, καρποί τε οἵ
σπαρτῶν᾽ καὶ δένδρων αὔξονται καὶ τελεσφοροῦνται
σελήνης περιόδοις τιθηνουμένης ἕκαστα τῶν φυο-
μένων καὶ πεπαινούσης ἐνδρόσοις καὶ μαλακω-
1 ms. τελευτῶντος... σελήνη (ἀφ᾽ οὗ for ad’ ἧς).

392

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 141-148

and the moon reveals its own beauty to the eye.
And this is surely an obvious lesson inculcating
kindness and humanity and bidding men never
grudge their own good things, but imitating the
blessed and happy beings in heaven banish jealousy
from the confines of the soul, producing what they
have for all to see, treat it as common property,
and give freely to the deserving. The fourth reason 142
is, that the moon traverses the zodiac in a shorter
fixed period than any other heavenly body. For it
accomplishes that revolution in the span of a single
month, and therefore the conclusion of its circuit,
when the moon ends its course at the starting-point
at which it began, is honoured by the law, which
declares that day a feast, again to teach us an admir-
able lesson, that in the conduct of life we should make
the ends correspond with the beginnings. And this
will be effected if we keep our primitive appetites
under the control of reason and do not permit them
to rebel and riot like cattle that have no herdsman.
As for the services that the moon 143
renders to everything on earth, there is no need to
dilate upon them. The proofs are perfectly clear.
As the moon increases, the rivers and fountains rise,
and again diminish as it diminishes. Its phases
cause the seas to withdraw and dwindle at the ebb-
tide, then suddenly rush back with the returning
flood, and the air to undergo all manner of changes
as the sky becomes clear or cloudy and alters in other
ways. The fruits, both of the sown crops and orchard-
trees, grow to their maturity according to the revolu-
tions of the moon, which fosters and ripens everything
that grows with the dewy and very gentle breezes

2 > ἡ - 8 ry
MS. ἐπι γῆν. MS. σπαρτοὶ.

393

144

145

146

PHILO

τάταις αὖραις; ἀλλ᾽ οὐχὶ καιρός, ὅπερ ἔφην,
μακρηγορεῖν ἔπαινον σελήνης διεξιόντα καὶ κατ-
αριθμούμενον ἃς παρέχεται ζῴοις καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς
ἅπασιν ὠφελείας. διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τού-
τοις παραπλήσια νουμηνία τετίμηται καὶ τάξιν
ἔλαχε τὴν ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς.

XXVII. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν νουμηνίαν ἐστὶν ἑορτὴ
τετάρτη, τὰ διαβατήρια, ἣν Ἕβραῖοι Πάσχα
πατρίῳ γλώττῃ καλοῦσιν, ἐν ἡ θύουσι πανδημεὶ
πολλὰς μυριάδας ἱερείων ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ μεσημ-
βρίας ἄχρι ἑσπέρας, ὃ λεὼς ἅπας, πρεσβύται καὶ
νέοι, κατ᾽ ἐκείνην τὴν ἡ ἡμέραν ἱερωσύνης ἀξιώματι
τετιμημένοι" τὸν γὰρ ἄλλον χρόνον οἱ ἱερεῖς τάς
τε κοινὰς θυσίας καὶ τὰς ἰδίας ἑκάστου προστάξει
νόμων ἐπιτελοῦσι, τότε δὲ σύμπαν τὸ ἔθνος μετὰ
πάσης ἀδείας ἁγναῖς χερσὶν ἱερουργεῖ" καὶ ἱερᾶται.
αἴτιον δὲ τόδε: τῆς μεγίστης ἀποικίας ὑπόμνημά
ἐστιν ἡ ἑορτὴ καὶ χαριστήριον, ἣν am Αἰγύπτου
μυριάσιν ὑπὲρ διακοσίας ἀνδρῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναικῶν
ἐστείλαντο κατὰ τὰ χρησθέντα λόγια. τότε οὖν,
ὡς εἰκός, ἀπολελοιπότες χώραν γέμουσαν ἀπ-
ανθρωπίας καὶ ξενηλασίας ἐπιτηδεύουσαν καὶ---τὸ
χαλεπώτατον-- τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ τιμὰς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις
οὐχ ἡμέροις μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγρίοις προσνέμουσαν

1 MS. ἱερουργεῖται.

¢ Philo consistently uses διαβατήρια or διάβασις -επάσχα,
and several times, 6.95. Leg. All. iii. 94, allegorizes it as in
§ 147, shewing that he traces the name not to the passing
over of the Israelites by the destroying angel (Ex. xii. 23 and
27), but to the crossing of Israel itself from Egypt, the type
of the body, and no doubt also the crossing of the Red Sea.
In classical Greek διαβατήρια are offerings made _ before
crossing a boundary, and also (Plut. Lucullus, 24) before

394:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 144-146

which it brings. But, as I have said, this is not the 144
time to dwell at length on the praises of the moon
and record and catalogue the services which it renders
to living creatures and everything on earth. It is
for these or similar reasons that the New Moon is
honoured and obtains its place among the feasts.
XXVII. After the New Moon comes the fourth 145
feast, called the Crossing-feast,* which the Hebrews in
their native tongue call Pascha. In this festival many
myriads of victims from noon till eventide? are offered
by the whole people, old and young alike, raised for
that particular day to the dignity of the priesthood.°
For at other times the priests according to the ordin-
ance of the law carry out both the public sacrifices
and those offered by private individuals. But on this
occasion the whole nation performs the sacred rites
and acts as priest with pure hands and complete
immunity. The reason for this is as follows: the 146
festival is a reminder and thank-offering for that great
migration from Egypt which was made by more than
two millions ὦ of men and women in obedience to the
᾿ oracles vouchsafed to them. Now at that time they
had left a land brimful of inhumanity which made a
practice of expelling strangers, and what was worst
of all, assigned divine honours to irrational creatures,
not merely domesticated animals, but even wild

crossing a swollen river; cf. § 147 ἐπικλύζει χειμάρρου ποταμοῦ
τρόπον. See also App. p. 627.

> See App. p. 627.

¢ Cf. Mos. ii. 224.

@ See Ex. xii. 37, “‘ about six hundred thousand on foot that
were men besides children’ (xx “ besides the baggage’).
So too, Num. xi. 21. ‘600,000 men implies a total including
women and children of at least 2 000,000 souls” (Driver,
ad loc.).

395

PHILO

ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν περιχαρείας ἔθυον αὐτοὶ διὰ Tpo-
θυμίαν ἄλεκτον καὶ τάχος ἐσπευσμένον τοὺς ἱερεῖς
οὐκ ἀναμένοντες. τοῦτο δὴ τότε πραχθὲν avTo-
κελεύστῳ καὶ ἐθελουργῷ πάθει δρᾶν ἐφῆκεν ὁ
νόμος ἅπαξ κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕκαστον εἰς εὐχαριστίας
ὑπόμνησιν. ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ παλαιὰν ἀρχαιολογίαν
[41 ἱστορεῖται. οἷς δὲ τὰ ῥητὰ τρέπειν
ἀν ἀλληγορίαν ἔθος ψυχῆς κάθαρσιν αἰνίττεται
διαβατήρια" φασὶ γὰρ τὸν σοφίας ἐραστὴν
οὐδὲν ὁ ἕτερον ἐπιτηδεύειν ἢ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος
καὶ τῶν παθῶν διάβασιν, ὧν ἕκαστον ἐπικλύζει
χειμάρρου ποταμοῦ τρόπον, εἰ μή τις τοῖς ἀρετῆς
δόγμασιν ἀνακόπτοι καὶ ἀναχαιτίζοι τὴν φοράν.
148 ἑκάστη. δὲ οἰκία κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν
χρόνον σχῆμα ἱεροῦ καὶ σεμνότητα περιβέβληται,
τοῦ σ αγιασθέντος ἱερείου πρὸς τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν
εὐωχίαν εὐτρεπιζομένου καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τὰ συσσίτια
συνειλεγμένων ἁγνευτικοῖς περιρραντηρίοις κεκα-
θαρμένων, ot παραγεγόνασιν οὐχ ὡς εἰς τὰ ἄλλα
συμπόσια χαριούμενοι γαστρὶ δι᾽ οἴνου καὶ ἐδε-
σμάτων, ἀλλὰ πάτριον ἔθος ἐκπληρώσοντες μετ᾽
149 εὐχῶν τε καὶ ὕμνων. ἄξιον μέντοι καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν
παρασημήνασθαι τῆς πανδήμου εὐωχίας" ἄγεται
γὰρ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός, ἥτις ἐκ δυεῖν
ἑβδομάδων συνέστηκεν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἀμοιρῇ τῶν
ἀξίων τιμῆς ἑβδομάδος, ἀλλ᾽ αὕτη κατάρχῃ πᾶσιν
ἐπιφανείας καὶ σεμνότητος.
XXVIII. | Συνάπτει δὲ τοῖς διαβατηρίοις ἑορτὴν
διάφορον ἔχουσαν καὶ οὐ συνήθη τροφῆς χρῆσιν,

[293]
160

* The suggestion that the feast was instituted after the
departure is, of course, quite opposed to Ex. xii., where the

396

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 146-150

beasts. So exceedingly joyful were they that in their
vast enthusiasm and impatient eagerness, they natur-
ally enough sacrificed without waiting for their priest.¢
This practice which on that occasion was the result
of a spontaneous and instinctive emotion, was sanc-
tioned by the law once in every year to remind them
of their duty of thanksgiving. These are the facts as
discovered by the study of ancient history.
But to those who are accustomed to turn literal facts 147
into allegory, the Crossing-festival suggests the
purification of the soul. They say that the lover of
wisdom is occupied solely in crossing from the body
and the passions, each of which overwhelms him like
a torrent, unless the rushing current be dammed and
held back by the principles of virtue. On 148
this day every dwelling-house is invested with the
outward semblance and dignity of a temple. The
victim is then slaughtered and dressed for the festal
meal which befits the occasion. The guests assembled
for the banquet have been cleansed by purificatory
lustrations, and are there not as in other festive
gatherings, to indulge the belly with wine and viands,
but to fulfil with prayers and hymns the custom
handed down by their fathers. The day on which 149
this national festivity occurs may very properly be
noted. Itis the 14th of the month, a number formed
of the sum of two sevens, thus bringing out the fact
that seven never fails to appear in anything worthy
of honour but everywhere takes the lead in conferring
prestige and dignity.

XXVIII. With the Crossing-feast he combines one 150
in which the food consumed is of a different and un-

blood of the victim is to be smeared on the doorposts to avert
the destroying angel.

397

151

152

153

PHILO

” > 4? Ὁ \ >] , A \ e A
ἄζυμα, ad οὗ καὶ ὠνόμασται. διττὸς δὲ ὁ περὶ

ϑ A 4 ς A " a + Ὁ A
αὐτῆς λόγος, ὁ μὲν ἴδιος τοῦ ἔθνους ἕνεκα τῆς

’ 3 ’ e \ \ A 4
λεχθείσης ἀποικίας, ὁ δὲ κοινὸς κατὰ φύσεως
“- ’ὔ
ἀκολουθίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ἁρμονίαν.
e > 95 A e e 4 3 7 ¢
ws δ᾽ ἀψευδὴς ἡ ὑπόσχεσις, ἐπισκεπτέον. ἕβδομος
ὧν ὁ μὴν οὗτος ἀριθμῷ τε καὶ τάξει κατὰ τὸν
ε \ / , ὡς 7 > 1 \
ἡλιακὸν κύκλον δυνάμει πρῶτός ἐστι, διὸ καὶ
πρῶτος ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις ἀναγέγραπται.
’
αἴτιον δὲ ὥς γε οἶμαι τόδε: τὴν ἐαρινὴν ἰσημερίαν
3 / lon
ἀπεικόνισμά τι καὶ μίμημα συμβέβηκεν εἶναι τῆς
ἀρχῆς ἐκείνης, καθ᾽ ἣν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος ἐδημιουργεῖτο᾽
A
TOTE yap διακρινομένων τῶν στοιχείων καὶ τὴν
ἐναρμόνιον τάξιν λαμβανόντων πρός τε αὑτὰ καὶ
πρὸς ἄλληλα, διεκοσμεῖτο μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς ἡλίῳ καὶ
σελήνῃ καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων πλανήτων καὶ ἀπλανῶν
ἀστέρων χορείαις καὶ περιόδοις, διεκοσμεῖτο δὲ
\ e
Kal ἡ yh παντοίαις φυτῶν ἰδέαις καὶ ὅση τῆς
3 “A \ A ~
ὀρεινῆς καὶ πεδιάδος ἀγαθὴ καὶ βαθεῖα πᾶσα
9 / V9 , 95. Φᾧ 5 9
ἐτεθήλει. καὶ ἐχλοηφόρει. καθ᾽ ἕκαστον οὖν ἐνι-
αὐτὸν ὑπομιμνήσκων ὁ θεὸς τῆς τοῦ κόσμου

ὃ

γενέσεως ἀνέφηνε τὸ ἔαρ, ἐν ᾧ πάντα ἀνθεῖ καὶ
βλαστάνει. διόπερ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ πρῶτος ἀνα-
γέγραπται μὴν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις, ἐπειδὴ τρόπον τινὰ
τῆς πρώτης ἀρχῆς ἐκμαγεῖόν ἐστιν, ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνης
ὥσπερ ἀρχετύπου σφραγῖδος τυπωθείς. ὁ δὲ κατὰ
τὴν μετοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν τῇ τάξει ἱπρώτῃ)
πρῶτος ὧν ἐν ταῖς ἡλιακαῖς περιόδοις οὐ λέγεται

1 ms. and Nicetas διότι.
2 ms. and Nicetas pera.

* The feast of Unleavened Bread is regularly distinguished
from the Passover, though following immediately after it.

398

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 150-153

familiar kind, namely, unleavened bread, which also
gives its name to the feast. This may be regarded
from two points of view, one peculiar to the nation,
referring to the migration just mentioned, the other
universal, following the lead of nature, and in agree-
ment with the general cosmic order. To show that
this affirmation is absolutely true, will require some
examination. This month comes seventh in order
and number as judged by the cycle of the sun, but
in importance it is first, and therefore is described
as first in the sacred books.? The reason for this I
believe to be as follows. In the spring equinox
we have a kind of likeness and portraiture of that
first epoch in which this world was created. The
elements were then separated and placed in har-
monious order with reference to themselves and each
other. The heaven was adorned with sun and moon
and the rhythmic movements and circlings of the
other stars, both fixed and planetary. So too the
earth was adorned with every manner of plants, and
the uplands and lowlands, wherever the soil had
depth and goodness, became luxuriant and verdant.
So every year God reminds us of the creation of the
world by setting before our eyes the spring when
everything blooms and flowers. And therefore there
is good reason for describing it in the laws as the
first month because in a sense it is an image of the
primal origin reproduced from it like the imprint
from an archetypal seal. But the month of the
autumnal equinox, though first in order as measured
by the course of the sun, is not called first in the law,

See Lev. xxiii. 5 ff., and also for the details mentioned below
cf. i. 181 ἢ
» See Ex. xii. 2, and note (App.) on i. 180.

399

151

152

153

154

155

156

PHILO

A “A A ς aA A 4
παρὰ τῷ νόμῳ πρῶτος, OTL KAT ἐκεῖνον TOV χρόνον
συγκεκομισμένων τῶν καρπῶν ἁπάντων τὰ δένδρα

A ty /
φυλλορροεῖ καὶ ὅσα ἀκμάζον τὸ ἔαρ ἤνεγκε πάντα
[ξηραίνεται] ἀφαυαίνεται ξηροῖς πνεύμασι τοῦ
>/ 9 ὃ ’ A > 9 ANU λ
ἀέρος αὐχμώδη καταστάντα τοῖς ἀφ᾽ ἡλίου φλογ-
μοῖς. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐπιφημίσαι μῆνα, καθ᾽ ὃν
3 , A 7 A e ’
ἐστείρωται καὶ ἀγονεῖ 7 τε ὀρεινὴ καὶ ἡ πεδιάς,

’ ’
παντάπασιν ὑπέλαβεν' ἀνάρμοστον καὶ ἀνοίκειον
> “A A [4 ’ὔὕ
εἶναι" δεῖ γὰρ τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ ἡγεμονίδα τάξιν
εἰληχόσι προσεῖναι τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ εὐκταιότατα,
δι᾿ ὧν αἱ ζῴων καὶ καρπῶν καὶ φυτῶν γενέσεις

A 3 / ᾿ > » 3 9
καὶ αὐξήσεις εἰσίν, ἀλλ οὐχ αἱ παλίμφημοι
φθοραί. τῆς δὲ ἑορτῆς ἀρχὴ διχόμηνος, ἡ πεντε-
καιδεκάτη, καθ᾽ ἣν σελήνη πλησιφαὴς γίνεται,
προνοίᾳ τοῦ μηδὲν εἶναι σκότος κατ᾽ ἐκείνην τὴν
ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ φωτὸς ἀνάπλεα πάντα διὰ πάντων,
ἡλίου μὲν ἕωθεν εἰς ἑσπέραν ἐπιλάμποντος, cedtyns
δὲ ἀφ᾽ ἑσπέρας ἄχρι τῆς ἕω Tas αὐτὰς. . .,

“~ 3 3 vA > VA 3 4
τῶν (δ᾽) ἀστέρων ἀλλήλοις -ἀντιπαραχωρούντων
ἀσκίοις φέγγεσιν. ἡ δὲ € ἑορτὴ πάλιν ἐφ᾽
ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ ἄγεται δι᾿ ἣν ἔλαχεν ἐν κόσμῳ ὁ
ἀριθμὸς προνομίαν τε καὶ τιμήν, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν
εἰς εὐθυμίαν καὶ πάνδημον εὐφροσύνην καὶ εὐ-
χαριστίαν τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπολείπηται τῆς
e “A e / «ΑΔ 9 A \ A > ’ὔἢ
ἱερᾶς ἑβδομάδος, ἣν ἀρχὴν καὶ πηγὴν ἀνθρώποις

1 MS. παντάπασι κατέλαβε.

5.1 have reproduced Cohn’s text, though it might be as
well to omit the signs of a lacuna, as it is quite possible that
the corruption may lie in τὰς αὐτὰς itself. Cohn suggests
Tas αὐγὰς {πεμπούσης», Wendland τὰς αὐτὰς (ἐπιτελούσης

χρείας». I think the simple correction to ὡσαύτως might be
worth considering.

@ Apart from the obvious faultiness of the text, the sentence

400

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 153-156

because at that time all the fruits have been gathered
in and the trees are shedding their leaves and all the
bloom which the spring brought in its prime already
scorched by the heat of the summer sun is wilting
under the dry currents of air. And so to give the
name of “ first’? to a month in which both uplands
and lowlands are sterilized and unfruitful seemed
to him altogether unsuitable and incongruous. For
things which come first and head the list should be
associated with all the fairest and most desirable
things which are the sources of birth and increase
to animals and fruits and plants, not with the pro-
cesses of destruction and the dark thoughts which
it suggests. The feast begins at the middle of the
month, on the fifteenth day, when the moon is full,
a day purposely chosen because then there is no
darkness, but everything is continuously lighted up
as the sun shines from morning to evening and the
moon from evening to morning and while the stars
give place to each other no shadow is cast upon
their brightness.* Again, the feast is held
for seven days to mark the precedence and honour
which the number holds in the universe, indicating
that nothing which tends to cheerfulness and public
mirth and thankfulness to God should fail to be
accompanied with memories of the sacred seven
which He intended to be the source and fountain to

is difficult. The stars, as Heinemann says, do not give place
to each other on a night of full moon. He thinks that τῶν
ἀστέρων refers to the sun and moon. [ hardly think this is
possible. Though we find the sun and moon coupled with
the ‘‘ other stars,’”’ and included in the ‘‘ seven stars,’’ there
would be no point here in speaking of them as “the stars.”
Presumably ἀλλήλοις ἀντιπαραχωρούντων is loosely used for
“ἃ 5 one gives way to another,’ and they are mentioned as
reinforcing the light of the moon.

VOL. VII 2D 401

154

155

156

157

158

PHILO

ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων εἶναι διενοήθη. τῶν δὲ ἑπτὰ
ἡμερῶν δύο, τὴν πρώτην καὶ τὴν ὑστάτην, “ἁγίας
προσεῖπεν, ἀρχῇ καὶ τέλει προνομίαν, ὡς εἰκός,
διδοὺς καὶ ἅμα βουλόμενος καθάπερ ἐν ὀργάνῳ
μουσικῷ συμφωνίᾳ' τῶν ἄκρων. τὰς μεθορίους
συναρμόσασθαι, τάχα μέντοι καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τόν τε
παρελθόντα καὶ μέλλοντα χρόνον συνῳδὸν ἀποφῆναι
τῇ ἑορτῇ, τὸν μὲν παρεληλυθότα συνάπτοντα (τῇ
πρώτῃ, τὸν δὲ μέλλοντα τῇ τελευταίᾳ, ὧν ἑκατέρα
τὴν ἑαυτῆς καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας δύναμιν. εἴληχεν: ἢ τε
γὰρ πρώτη τῆς μὲν ἑορτῆς ἐστιν ἀρχή, τέλος δὲ
τοῦ παρεληλυθότος χρόνου, ἣ τε ἐβὸ ὅμη τέλος μὲν
τῆς ἑορτῆς, ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος, ἵν᾽, ὃ καὶ
πρόσθεν εἷπον, ἅπας ὁ τοῦ σπουδαίου Bios i ἰσότιμος
ἑορτῇ νομίζηται λύπην καὶ φόβον καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν
καὶ τἄλλα πάθη καὶ νοσήματα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐληλα-
κότος. ὁ δ᾽ ἄρτος ἄζυμος, ἤτοι διὰ τὸ
τοὺς προγόνους, ἡνίκα θείᾳ πομπῇ τὴν ἀποικίαν
ἐστέλλοντο, χρωμένους ἀνυπερβλήτῳ τάχει τὰ
φυράματα τοῦ σταιτὸς ἀζυμα ἐπενέγκασθαι ἢ
ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον -(λέγω δὲ τὴν
ἐαρινὴν ὥραν, ἐν 7) συμβαίνει τὴν ἑορτὴν ἀγεσθαὴ
ὁ τοῦ σίτου καρπὸς ἀτελής ἐστι, τῶν πεδίων
σταχυηφορούντων καὶ μήπω καιρὸν ἐχόντων εἰς
ἄμητον. ἀτελεῖ δὴ τῷ μέλλοντι καρπῷ τελειω-
θησομένῳ δὲ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐδικαίωσεν ἐξομοιῶσαι
τὴν ἄζυμον τροφὴν---ἀτελὴς γάρ ἐστι καὶ αὕτη--
πρὸς ἐλπίδος χρηστῆς ὑπόμνησιν, ὡς ἤδη τῆς
φύσεως τὰς ἐτησίους ᾿εὐτρεπιζομένης ἀνθρώπων
γένει δωρεὰς ἐν τῇ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ

1 ws. and Nicetas συμφωνίαν.

402

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 157-158

men of all good things. Two days out of the seven, 157
the first and the last, are declared holy. In this way
he gave a natural precedence to the beginning and
the end; but he also wished to create a harmony
as on a musical instrument between the intermediates
and the extremes. Perhaps too he wished to
harmonize the feast with a past which adjoins the
first day and a future which adjoins the last. These
two, the first and the last, have each the other’s
properties in addition to their own. The first is the
beginning of the feast and the end of the preceding
past, the seventh is the end of the feast and the be-
ginning of the coming future. Thus, as I have said
before,” the whole life of the man of worth may be
regarded as equivalent to a feast held by one who
has expelled grief and fear and desire and the other
passions and distempers of the soul. The 158
bread is unleavened either because our forefathers,
when under divine guidance they were starting on
their migration, were so intensely hurried that they
brought the lumps of dough unleavened,? or else
because at that season, namely, the springtime, when
the feast is held, the fruit of the corn has not reached
its perfection, for the fields are in the ear stage and
not yet mature for harvest. It was the imperfection
of this fruit which belonged to the future, though it
was to reach its perfection very shortly, that he con-
sidered might be paralleled by the unleavened food,
which is also imperfect, and serves to remind us of
the comforting hope that nature, possessing as she
does a superabundant wealth of things needful, is
already preparing her yearly gifts to the human

2 In § 48.
> So Ex. xii. 34, 39, and Deut. xvi. 3.

403

PHILO

, , A > A A 3 A ~
159 περιουσίᾳ. λέγεται δὲ κἀκεῖνο τοῖς ἐξηγηταῖς τῶν

ἱερῶν γραμμάτων, ὅτι ἡ μὲν ἄζυμος τροφὴ δώρημα
φύσεώς ἐστιν, ἡ δ᾽ ἐζυμωμένη τέχνης ἔργον"
ἐπιτηδεύσει γὰρ ἄνθρωποι τὰ ἡδέα τοῖς ἀναγ-
καίοις' ἀναμιγνύναι σπεύδοντες τὸ αὐστηρὸν τῇ

4 A / 4 3 A Ss
160 φύσει TMpoonves τέχνῃ κατεσκεύασαν. ἔπει OUV

[294]

161

162

ἐστιν ἡ ἐαρινὴ ἑορτή, καθάπερ ἐδίδαξα, τῆς τοῦ
κόσμου γενέσεως ὑπόμνημα, τοὺς δὲ παλαιτάτους
γηγενεῖς τε καὶ ἐκ γηγενῶν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν χρήσασθαι
ταῖς | τοῦ κόσμου δωρεαῖς ἀδιαστρόφοις, μήπω
τῆς ἡδονῆς παρευημερούσης, οἰκειοτάτην τροφὴν
ἐνομοθέτησε τῷ καιρῷ, βουλόμενος ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος
τὰ τῆς σεμνῆς καὶ αὐστηρᾶς διαίτης ἐμπυρεύματα
ζωπυρεῖν καὶ ἅμα τὸν ἀρχαῖον βίον τῆς ὀλιγοδεΐας
καὶ εὐτελείας θαυμάσαι τε καὶ τιμῆσαι πανηγύρεως
ἐκεχειρίᾳ καὶ τὸν ἡμῶν καθ᾽ ὅσον οἷόν τε ἦν
ἐξομοιῶσαι τῷ παλαιῷ. τὰ λεχθέντα πιστοῦται
μάλιστα ἡ τῶν ἰσαρίθμων ταῖς φυλαῖς ἐπὶ τῆς
ἱερᾶς τραπέζης ἄρτων δώδεκα πρόθεσις" εἰσὶ γὰρ
πάντες ἄζυμοι, δεῖγμα σαφέστατον ἀμιγοῦς τροφῆς
οὐ “τέχνῃ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἀλλὰ φύσει πρὸς τὸ τῆς
χρήσεως ἀναγκαῖον εὐτρεπισθείσης. ταῦτα μὲν
ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον.

XXIX. 'Ἑορτὴ δέ ἐστιν ἐν ἑορτῇ ἡ μετὰ τὴν
πρώτην εὐθὺς ἡμέραν, ἥτις ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος
ὀνομάζεται δράγμα: τοῦτο γὰρ ἀπαρχὴ προσάγεται
τῷ βωμῷ καὶ τῆς χώρας, ἣν ἔλαχε τὸ ἔθνος οἰκεῖν,

1 MS. δικαίοις.

@ See Lev. xxiv. 5 ff.
> See Lev. xxiii. 10 ff.; for ‘“‘ directly ΜῊΝ the first day”

404.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 159-162

race. Another suggestion made by the interpreters 159
of the holy scriptures is that food, when unleavened,

is a gift of nature, when leavened is a work of art.
For men in their eagerness to temper the barely
necessary with the pleasant, have learned through
practice to soften by art what nature has made hard.
Since, then, the spring-time feast, as I have laid down, 160
is a reminder of the creation of the world, and its
earliest inhabitants, children of earth in the first or
second generation, must have used the gifts of the
universe in their unperverted state before pleasure
had got the mastery, he ordained for use on this
occasion the food most fully in accordance with the
season. He wished every year to rekindle the
embers of the serious and ascetic mode of faring, and

to employ the leisure of a festal assembly to confer
admiration and honour on the old-time life of frugality
and economy, and as far as possible to assimilate our
present-day life to that of the distant past. These 161
statements are especially guaranteed by the ex-
posure of the twelve loaves corresponding in number

to the tribes, on the holy table.* They are all un-
leavened, the clearest possible example of a food free
from admixture, in the preparation of which art for
the sake of pleasure has no place, but only nature,
providing nothing save what is indispensable for its
use. So much for this.

XXIX. But within the feast there is another feast 162
following directly after the first day. This is called
the ‘‘ Sheaf,’’® a name given to it from the ceremony
which consists in bringing to the altar a sheaf as a
first-fruit, both of the land which has been given to

ibid. 11; uxx “ἢ the morrow of the first day’; Hebrew
‘on the morrow after the sabbath.” See App. p. 627.

405

PHILO

A “- 4 Ἁ 9 \ ‘
Kal τῆς συμπάσης γῆς, ὡς εἶναι THY ἀπαρχὴν καὶ
τοῦ ἔθνους ἰδίαν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἅπαντος ἀνθρώπων
4 a \ 9 3 μ᾿ Δ ᾽ὔ 9
168 γένους κοινήν. τὸ δ᾽ αἴτιον, ὅτι ὃν λόγον ἔχει
e lon \ ἢ \ >
πρὸς πόλιν ἱερεύς, τοῦτον πρὸς ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκου-
> 4 f e A Ul > “A
μένην τὸ “lovdaiwy ἔθνος. ἱερᾶται yap, εἰ δεῖ
> A A A 4
τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἅπασι τοῖς ἁγνευτικοῖς καθαρσίοις
A \ ‘\ \
χρώμενον Kal κατὰ σῶμα καὶ κατὰ ψυχὴν ὑφ-
4
ηγήσεσι νόμων θείων, ot τάς τε γαστρὸς ἡδονὰς
καὶ. ὑπογαστρίους ἔστειλαν καὶ τὸν ὄχλον | Ἐκ εἶ
ταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ἡνίοχον ἀλόγοις λόγον ἐπιστή-
͵ A -- 9 4 ‘\
σαντες, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Tas τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκρίτους Kal
9 ’ὔ
πλεοναζούσας ὁρμὰς ἀνέκοψαν καὶ ἀνεχαίτισαν,
τὰ μὲν μαλακωτέραις ὑφηγήσεσι καὶ φιλοσόφοις
προτροπαῖς, τὰ δ᾽ ἐμβριθεστέροις καὶ εὐτονωτέροις
ἐλέγχοις καὶ φόβῳ κολάσεως, ὃν ἐπανατείνονται.
\ “A ‘\ ld 4
164 χωρὶς δὲ τοῦ τὴν νομοθεσίαν τρόπον
\ ’ e A \ “A
τινὰ διδασκαλίαν ἱερωσύνης εἶναι καὶ τὸν βιοῦντα
\ 4 e 4 A > 95 4
κατὰ τοὺς νόμους εὐθὺς ἱερέα, μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀρχιερέα,
9 A
map ἀληθείᾳ δικαζούσῃ νομίζεσθαι κἀκεῖνο πρόσ-
3 ’ > ’ N 9
εστιν ἐξαίρετον: ἀπερίγραφον καὶ ἀπερίληπτον
’ὔἢ 4 ~ “εΜ ~ \ 4 3
συμβέβηκεν εἶναι θεῶν πλῆθος τῶν κατὰ πόλεις
τιμωμένων ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν, οὗς τό τε
1 Cohn prints here καὶ τὸν ὄχλον {τῆς ψυχῆς ἐχαλίνωσαν,
νοῦν» ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι κτλ. I have not followed him, since the
insertion is, as he says, only “ exempli gratia,” and does not
seem particularly happy. Philo is amplifying κατὰ σῶμα καὶ
κατὰ ψυχὴν, and as we take up ψυχὴ in ἔτι δὲ καὶ κτλ. it
seems out of place here. Something is certainly. needed after

ὄχλον, but αὐτῶν would be in itself enough, or αὐτῶν ἐχαλίνωσαν
since ὄχλον contains the notion of turbulence as well as crowd.

2 MS. πόλιν.

@ Or “This follows from the fact that,’”’ etc. For the
following sections cf. i. 97, though there it is the high priest,
and not the Jewish nation, who prays for the world. Heine-

406

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 162-164

the nation to dwell in and of the whole earth, so that
it serves that purpose both to the nation in particular
and for the whole human race in general. The
reason of this 155 that the Jewish nation is to the whole
inhabited world what the priest is to the State. For
the holy office in very truth belongs to the nation
because it carries out all the rites of purification and
both in body and soul obeys the injunctions of the
divine laws, which restrict the pleasures of the belly
and the parts below it and the horde. . . setting
reason to guide the irrational senses, and also check
and rein in the wild and extravagant impulses of the
soul, sometimes through gentler remonstrances and
philosophical admonitions, sometimes through severer
and more forcible condemnations and the fear of
punishment which they hold over it as a deterrent.

But not only is the legislation in a sense
a lesson on the sacred office, not only does a life led in
conformity with the laws necessarily confer priesthood
or rather high priesthood in the judgement of truth,
but thereis another point of special importance. There
is no bound or limit to the number of deities, male and
female, honoured in different cities, the vain inven-

mann notes that it is curious that the sections which follow
emphasizing the world-priesthood of the Jewish race should
be connected with the comparatively insignificant rite of the
Sheaf, particularly as Philo in De Som. ii. 75 has laid down
that the sheaf must be taken from the holy land. But the
sheaf is actually the first-fruit of che whole harvest, the
accomplishment of which is celebrated in the feasts of Weeks
and Tabernacles. Philo does not argue the world-priesthood
from the rite, but asserts it as a fact shewn by (1) the obedi-
ence of Israel to the divine law; (2) its unique monotheism,
and argues from it that the Sheaf, and by implication the
other thank-offerings, are world-extensive. ‘That he should
attach this argument to the first example is not unnatural.

407

163

164

165

166

PHILO

\ 4 3 4 ‘\ e \ @

ποιητικὸν γένος ἐμύθευσε καὶ (6) πολὺς ὅμιλος
ἀνθρώπων, οἷς ἄπορος" καὶ ἀδιερεύνητος ἡ ζήτησις
τῆς ἀληθείας cori od μὴν τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἅπαντες
ἀλλὰ ἑτέρους ἕτεροι σεμνοποιοῦσι καὶ γεραίρουσιν,
e \ \ \ oN “- > “~ ’
ὡς μηδὲ θεοὺς τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοδαπῆς νομίζειν,
> \ ; \ / , 2 \ > Ὁ
ἀλλὰ γέλωτα καὶ χλεύην θέσθαι: τὰς ἐκείνων
ἀποδοχὰς" καὶ καταγινώσκειν τῶν τιμώντων πολ-
λὴν ἠλιθιότητα ὡς ὑγιοῦς διαμαρτανόντων δόξης.
εἰ δ᾽ ἔστιν, ὃν μιᾷ γνώμῃ πάντες ὁμολογοῦσιν
"BAA e “- ὟΝ 4 ᾿ e > 4 \

nves ὁμοῦ καὶ βάρβαροι, ὁ ἀνωτάτω πατὴρ
θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου
δημιουργός, οὗ τὴν φύσιν a ἀόρατον καὶ δυστόπαστον
οὖσαν οὐ μόνον ὁραθῆναι ἀλλὰ καὶ νοηθῆναι πάντες
οἱ περὶ τὰ μαθήματα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην φιλοσοφίαν
διατρίβοντες ἀναζητεῖν γλίχονται μηδὲν παρέντες
τῶν εἰς εὕρεσιν καὶ [τοὐύτου] θεραπείαν, ἔδει μὲν

\

πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἀνῆφθαι (τούτου) καὶ μὴ
καθάπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς εἰσποιεῖν ἑτέρους ἐπὶ
μετουσίᾳ τῶν ἴσων τιμῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τὸ ἀναγ-
καιότατον ὦλισθον μέρος, τὸ σφάλμα τῶν ἄλλων
ἐπηνωρθώσατο, κυριώτατα avat, τὸ ᾿Ιουδαίων
ἔθνος, ὅσα μὲν εἰς γένεσιν ἦλθε πάνθ᾽ ὑπερκύψαν
ὡς γενητὰ καὶ τῇ φύσει φθαρτά, τοῦ δ᾽ ἀγενήτου

1 MS. ἄπονος.
2 MS. ὑποθέσθαι. 3 MS. ὑποδοχὰς.

4 This is a remarkable statement, and can hardly mean
more than that all acknowledge a creator of some sort. In
such a general statement he may perhaps ignore atheists, but
the words are not easy to reconcile with what he says else-
where of polytheists. Or does he think that all the theologies
like the Greek and Roman acknowledged one God as above
the rest ?

ὃ Heinemann translates by ‘“* Naturforschung.”’ But

408

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 164-166

tions of the tribe of poets and of the great multitude
of men to whom the quest for truth is a task of diffi-
culty and beyond their powers of research. Yet
instead of all peoples having the same gods, we find
different nations venerating and honouring different
gods. The gods of the foreigner they do not regard
as gods at all. They treat their acceptance by the
others as a jest and a laughing-stock and denounce
the extreme folly of those who honour them and the
failure to think soundly shewn thereby. But if He 165
exists Whom all Greeks and barbarians unanimously
acknowledge,* the supreme Father of gods and men
and the Maker of the whole universe, whose nature
is invisible and inscrutable not only by the eye, but
by the mind, yet is a matter into which every student
of astronomical science ὃ and other philosophy desires
to make research and leaves nothing untried which
would help him to discern it and do it service—
then it was the duty of all men to cleave to Him
and not introduce new gods staged as by machinery °
to receive the same honours. When they went 166
wrong in what was the most vital matter of all,
it is the literal truth that the error which the rest
committed was corrected by the Jewish nation which
passed over all created objects because they were
created and naturally liable to destruction and chose

μαθήματα, where it is not used quite generally, seems regularly
to indicate either mathematics as in § 177 below, or what was
regarded as a branch of mathematics, astronomy or astrology.
For the latter ¢f. De Praem. 58 τῆς ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασι Χαλδαικῆς
τερθρείας and De Virt. 212 ἀστρονομικοῦ τῶν περὶ τὰ μαθήματα
διατριβόντων. 80 too μαθηματικός (-7), 8 140 above and De
Mut. 71 πραγματευόμενον τὰ περὶ φύσεως οὐρανοῦ ὃν μαθη-
ματικὸν ἔνιοι προσαγορεύουσι.
¢ See on i. 28.

409

167

168

169

PHILO

N > 4 4 \ 4 ey 7 A
καὶ ἀιδίου μόνον τὴν θεραπείαν ἑλόμενον: πρῶτον
\ Ὁ λό 3 ὃ᾽ Ὁ \ > aN
μὲν ὅτι καλόν, ἔπειτα δ᾽ ὅτι Kal ὠφέλιμον πρεσ-
\ >
Butépw πρὸ νεωτέρων Kal ἄρχοντι πρὸ ἀρχομένων
καὶ ποιητῇ πρὸ γεγονότων ἀνακεῖσθαί τε καὶ προσ-
4 > / 4 “--
τίθεσθαι. διὸ καὶ θαυμάζειν ἐπέρχεταί μοι, πῶς
A 4 “- aA
τολμῶσί τινες ἀπανθρωπίαν τοῦ ἔθνους κατηγορεῖν,
4 4 a
ὃ τοσαύτῃ κέχρηται κοινωνίας καὶ εὐνοίας τῆς"
πρὸς <Tovs) πανταχοῦ πάντας ὑπερβολῇ, ws τάς
τε εὐχὰς καὶ ἑορτὰς καὶ ἀπαρχὰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ
“-- 3 A \ /
γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιτελεῖν καὶ τὸν ὄντως
e “-- “A
ὄντα θεὸν θεραπεύειν ὑπέρ Te ἑαυτοῦ Kal τῶν
3 a \ > 4 4 > Ul
ἄλλων, οἱ τὰς ὀφειλομένας λατρείας ἀποδεδράκασι.
Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ σύμπαντος ἀνθρώπων
4 tS 4 \ LA 3 A ὃ \ λλ ’,
γένους. ἰδίᾳ δὲ πάλιν εὐχαριστοῦσι (dua) πολλά"
“-- 3."
πρῶτον μὲν {ὅτι οὐκ αἰεὶ σποράδην ἀλώμενοι
4 / 3 ’ A \
κατά τε νήσους καὶ ἠπείρους διατελοῦσι καὶ ws
3 A e 4 \
ὀθνεῖοι Kal ἀνίδρυτοι τὰς ἑτέρων ἐπῳκηκότες καὶ
ἀλλοτρίοις ἐφεδρεύοντες ἀγαθοῖς ὀνειδίζονται μηδε-
3
μίαν γῆς" τοσαύτης ἀποτομὴν τῷ μειονεκτεῖσθαι"
δανεισάμενοι, χώραν δὲ καὶ πόλεις κτησάμενοι
a " > A , > 49 5 \
κλῆρον ἴδιον ἐκ πολλοῦ νέμονται, ἀφ᾽ οὗ" τὰς
3 A
ἀπαρχὰς ὅσιόν ἐστι ποιεῖσθαι. δεύτερον δ᾽ ὅτι
” > νιν ’ A 6 Δ 2 \
οὔτε ἀπόβλητον Kal τὴν ἐπιτυχοῦσαν" ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαθὴν
\ 4 a 4
Kal πάμφορον γῆν ἔλαχον πρός τε ζῴων ἡμέρων

1 ms. προτίθεσθαι. 2 MS. τῆ --ετῇ. 3 MS. τῆς.
4 Cohn prints <ézi> τῷ μετοικίζεσθαι ; see note a.
5 MS. ἀφ᾽ ὧν. 5 MS. ἀποτυχοῦσαν.

* Cohn in Hermes, 1908, p. 200, argues in justification of
his: correction (see note 4), that it fits in very well with the
last words of § 170. This is true, but I cannot follow his

410

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 166-169

the service only of the Uncreated and Eternal,
first because of its excellence, secondly because it is
profitable to dedicate and attach ourselves to the
elder rather than to the younger, to the ruler rather
than to the subject, to the maker rather than to the
thing created. And therefore it astonishes me to
see that some people venture to accuse of inhumanity
the nation which has shewn so profound a sense of
fellowship and goodwill to all men everywhere, by
using its prayers and festivals and first-fruit offerings
as a means of supplication for the human race in
general and of making its homage to the truly existent
God in the name of those who have evaded the service
which it was their duty to give, as well as of itself.
So much for this feast as a thanksgiving for the
whole human race. But the nation in particular also
gives thanks for many reasons. First, because they
do not continue for ever wandering broadcast over
islands and continents and occupying the homelands
of others as strangers and vagrants, open to the re-
proach of waiting to seize the goods of others. Nor
have they just borrowed a section of this great
country for lack of means to purchase,” but have
acquired the land and cities for their own property,
a heritage in which they live as long established
citizens and therefore offer first-fruits from it as a
sacred duty. Secondly, the land which has fallen
to their lot is not derelict nor indifferent soil, but
good land, well fitted for breeding domestic animals

dictum that μειονεκτεῖσθαι makes no sense. The nation was
not like people who borrow or hire a piece of ground because
they have not enough to buy it. μειονεκτεῖν is common
enough, though I have not found an example of the middle.
Heinemann translates μειονεκτεῖσθαι, though he calls the word
corrupt.

411

167

168

169

170

171

172

PHILO

3 ’ Α “ > 4 9 , 3 b «“"-
εὐγονίας καὶ καρπῶν ἀμυθήτων ἀφθονίαν: ἐν αὐτῇ
Ἁ 50 / 3 λ / 1AAG \ ω λ θ ὃ
γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστι λυπρόγεων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα λιθώδη

\ 3 ᾽ὔ Φ A \ A /
καὶ ἀπόκροτα εἶναι δοκεῖ φλεψὶ μαλακαῖς διέζωσται

\ / ’ Δ \ ’ A
Kal σφόδρα βαθείαις, αἵ διὰ πιότητα ζῳοφυτεῖν
εἰσιν ἀγαθαί. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις οὐκ ἔρημον χώραν
37 3 3
ἔλαβον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν 4 πολυάνθρωπον ἔθνος ἣν καὶ
εὐανδροῦσαι μεγάλαι πόλεις: ἀλλ᾽ αἱ μὲν ἐκενώ-
θησαν οἰκητόρων, τὸ δὲ σύμπαν ἔθνος ἔξω μέρους
βραχέος ἠφανίσθη, τὰ μὲν πολέμοις, τὰ δὲ καὶ
θεηλάτοις προσβολαῖς, διὰ καινὰς, καὶ ἐκτόπους
ἐπιτηδεύσεις ἀδικημάτων καὶ ὅσα μεγαλουργοῦντες
3 κ᾿. ~ ~
emt καθαιρέσει τῶν τῆς φύσεως θεσμῶν ἠσέβουν,
ἵνα οἱ ἀντὶ τούτων εἰσοικιζόμενοι τοῖς ἑτέρων
σωφρονισθῶσι κακοῖς, ἀναδιδαχθέντες ἔργοις ὅτι
ζηλωταὶ μὲν τῶν ζκακίαςΣ" ἔργων γενόμενοι ταὐτὰ
πείσονται, τιμήσαντες δ᾽ ἀρετῆς βίον ἕξουσι τὸν
ἀπονεμηθέντα κλῆρον, οὐκ ἐν μετοίκοις ἀλλ᾽ ἐν

3

αὐτόχθοσιν ἐξετασθέντες. ὡς μὲν τοίνυν
ἀπαρχὴ τὸ δράγμα τῆς τε οἰκείας καὶ τῆς συμπάσης
γῆς ἐστιν ἐπ᾽ “εὐχαριστίᾳ γινόμενον εὐθηνίας καὶ
εὐετηρίας, 7) τό TE ἔθνος καὶ τὸ σύμπαν ἀνθρώπων

, 3 "ἡ “A 4 4 \
γένος ἐπόθει χρῆσθαι, δεδήλωται. προσήκει δὲ
μὴ ἀγνοεῖν, ὅτι πολλὰ διὰ τῆς ἀπαρχῆς καὶ
ὠφελιμώτατα παρίσταται: πρῶτον μὲν θεοῦ μνήμη,
ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἀγαθόν' τελειότερον, ἔπειτα δὲ
τῷ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν αἰτίῳ τῆς εὐκαρπίας ἀμοιβὴ

/ Ἁ Ἁ A 3 \ 4 ~
δικαιοτάτη. τὰ μὲν yap amo τέχνης γεωργικῆς
1 MS. κενὰς. 2 On Cohn’s insertion of {ςκακίας» see note a.
3 MS. περί τε. 4 Ms. ἀγαθῶν.

α The insertion of κακίας is very doubtful, and perhaps
weakens the sense. I suspect that there is a play, not repro-
ducible in English, on two different meanings of ἔργα: (a)

412

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 169-172

and bearing fruits in vast abundance. [or in it
there is no poverty of soil and even such parts as
seem to be stony or stubborn are intersected by
soft veins of very great depth, the richness of which
adapts them for producing life. But besides this it 170
was no uninhabited land which they received, but
one which contained a populous nation and great
cities filled with stalwart citizens. Yet these cities
have been stripped of their inhabitants and the
whole nation, except for a small fraction, has disap-
peared, partly through wars, partly through heaven-
sent visitations, a consequence of their strange and
monstrous practices of iniquity and all their heinous
acts of impiety aimed at the subversion of the statutes
of nature. Thus should those who took their place
as inhabitants gain instruction from the evil fate of
others and learn from their history the lesson that if
they emulate deeds of vice* they will suffer the same
doom, but if they pay honour to a life of virtue they
will possess the heritage appointed to them and be
ranked not as settlers but as native-born.

We have shewn, then, that the Sheaf was an offering 171
both of the nation’s own land and of the whole earth,
given in thanks for the fertility and abundance which
the nation and the whole human race desired to enjoy.
But we must not fail to note that there are many
things of great advantage represented by the offering.
First, that we remember God, and what thing more
perfectly good can we find than this? Secondly,
that we make a requital, as is most fully due, to Him
Who is the true cause of the good harvest. For the 172
results due to the husbandman’s art are few or as good

taught by actual facts, cf. Mos. ii. 268 τοῦτ᾽ ἀπέβαινεν ἔργοις,
(6) emulate their actions.

413

PHILO

9\ 7 \ \ / 3 > A vA
ὀλίγα Kal TO μηδέν, αὔλακας ἀναστεῖλαι ἢ περι-
/ A ~ A a “A / av A
σκάψαι καὶ γυρῶσαι φυτὸν 7) βαθῦναι τάφρον 7 τὰς
A ~ 4
περιττὰς ἐπιφύσεις ἀποτεμεῖν ἢ TL τῶν ὁμοιοτρόπων

9 A \
ἐργάσασθαι, τὰ δ᾽ ἐκ φύσεως ἀναγκαῖα πάντα Kal

,ὔ

χρήσιμα, γονιμώτατον ἔδαφος, εὔυδρα χωρία
A \ A A

πηγαῖς καὶ ποταμοῖς αὐθιγενέσι Kal χειμάρροις

’ὔ ,ὔ ,

καὶ ἐτησίοις ὄμβροις καταρδόμενα, ἀέρος εὐκρασίαι

ζωτικωτάταις αὔραις ἐπιπνέοντος, al σπαρτῶν καὶ

A / \

φυτῶν ἰδέαι μυρίαι: τί yap τούτων ἄνθρωπος ἢ

Ὁ ΩΣ /

173 εὗρεν ἢ ἐγέννησεν; ἡ μὲν οὖν γεννήσασα φύσις
~ 99 7 > ~ 9 3 4 9 ’ ’
τῶν ἰδίων ἀγαθῶν οὐκ ἐφθόνησεν ἀνθρώπῳ, ζῴων

[ .

A “- ~ e 4 A >
δὲ τῶν θνητῶν ἡγεμονικώτατον αὐτὸν εἶναι
e A , ’ \ / 4
ὑπολαβοῦσα, διότι λόγου Kal φρονήσεως κεκοινώ-

,ὔ “-Ἅ
νηκεν, ἀριστίνδην εἵλετο καὶ πρὸς μετουσίαν τῶν
9Q 7 > / e A a ” 3 A ’ \
ἰδίων ἐκάλεσεν: ὑπὲρ ὧν ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖσθαί τε καὶ

4 A ς 4 A A e 9 “A

θαυμάζεσθαι τὸν ἑστιάτορα θεὸν τὴν ws ἀληθῶς
“A A “A

ἑστίαν γῆν ἅπασαν ἀεὶ πλήρη παρέχοντα τῶν οὐκ

3 ’ / 3 A A “A A A e
ἀναγκαίων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ {τῶν mpos) Tov afpo-

’ ’ A \ 4 \ \ A 3

174 δίαιτον βίον. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὸ μὴ δεῖν εὖὐ-
“A A \ A
εργετῶν ἀλογεῖν: 6 yap πρὸς τὸν ἀνεπιδεᾶ καὶ

ς ns , 1 \ > 2? , > 4 \
ἑαυτοῦ {πλήρη θεὸν εὐχάριστος γένοιτ᾽ av Kal

A > ’ > ’ Δ ’ ω 3 A

πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐξεθισθείς, of μυρίων ὅσων ἐνδεεῖς

’ A > ~

175 εἰσιν. ᾿ κρίθινον δὲ τὸ τῆς ἀπαρχῆς

δράγμα, πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων ἀνυπαίτιον
A 9 > > ’

χρῆσιν: ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὔτ᾽ εὐαγὲς ἦν ἐκ πάντων

A A vA

ἀπάρχεσθαι, τῶν πλείστων πρὸς ἡδονὴν μᾶλλον ἢ
A / 9 “4

τὴν ἀναγκαίαν χρῆσιν γεγονότων, οὖὐθ᾽ ὅσιον

~ A ~ > A

ἀπολαῦσαι Kal μετασχεῖν τινος τῶν πρὸς ἐδωδὴν

1 On Cohn’s insertion of πλήρη see note a.
414.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 172-175

as nothing, furrows drawn, a plant dug or ringed
around, a trench deepened, excessive overgrowth
lopped, or other similar operations. But what we
owe to nature is all indispensable and useful, a soil
of great fruitfulness, fields irrigated by fountains or
rivers, spring-fed or winter torrents, and watered by
seasonable rains, happily tempered states of the air
which sends us the breath of its truly life-giving
breezes, numberless varieties of crops and plants.
For which of these has man for its inventor or parent ?

No, it is nature, their parent, who has not grudged to 173
man a share in the goods which are her very own, but
judging him to be the chiefest of mortal animals
because he has obtained a portion of reason and good
sense, chose him as the worthiest and invited him to
share what was hers to give. For all this it is meet
and right that the hospitality of God should be praised
and revered, God Who provides for His guests the
whole earth as a truly hospitable home ever filled
not merely with necessaries, but with the means of

luxurious living. Further, we learn not to neglect 174
benefactors, for he who is grateful to God, Who needs
nothing and is His own fullness,* will thus become
accustomed to be grateful to men whose needs are

numberless. The sheaf thus offered is 175
of barley, shewing that the use of the inferior grains
is not open to censure. It would be irreverent to
give first-fruits of them all, as most of them are made
to give pleasure rather than to be used as necessaries,
and equally unlawful to enjoy and partake of any
@ Cohn supports his insertion of πλήρη from Leg. All. i. 44
αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ πλήρης ὁ θεός, cf. De Mut. 27. Without it the
text “‘ having no need of Himself” might not be impossible,
Sela give a conception for which I know no parallel in

110.

415

PHILO

μὴ ἐν ols εὐπρεπὲς καὶ θέμις εὐχαριστήσαντας, τὸ
δευτερείοις τροφῆς τετιμημένον εἶδος, κριθήν,
ἀπάρχεσθαι προσέταξεν ὁ νόμος" ὁ γὰρ τοῦ σίτου
(καρπὸς) τὰ πρεσβεῖα ἔλαχεν, οὗ πάλιν τὴν
ἀπαρχὴν ἐπιφανεστέραν οὖσαν εἰς ἐπιτηδειότερον
ἀνατίθεται καιρόν, οὐ προεκφοιτῶν ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ
\

παρόντι ταμιευόμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ καὶ τὰς εὐχαριστίας
ἡρμόσθαι χρόνων τεταγμέναις περιόδοις.

16 ΧΧΧ, Τοσαύτας ἔχουσα προνομίας, ὁπόσας
ἔδειξεν ὁ νόμος, ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ δράγματι πανήγυρις
προέορτός ἐστιν, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἑτέρας
ἑορτῆς μείζονος" ἀπὸ γὰρ ἐκείνης ἡμέρα πεντη-
κοστὴ καταριθμεῖται € ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάσιν, [ἐφ᾽ αἷς "ὦ ἱερὸν
ἀριθμὸν ἐπισφραγιζ ομένης μονάδος, ἥτις ἐστὶν
ἀσώματος θεοῦ εἰκών, ᾧ κατὰ τὴν μόνωσιν
ἐξομοιοῦται. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ πρῶτον κάλλος ἐπι-

177 δείκνυται πεντηκοντάς. ἕτερον δὲ pnvuteov: θαυ-
μαστὴ καὶ περιμάχητός ἐστιν ἡ φύσις (αὐτῆς)
διά τε τἄλλα καὶ ἐπειδὴ συνέστηκεν ἐκ τοῦ στοι-
χειωδεστάτου καὶ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν ἐν οὐσίαις
περιλαμβανομένων," ὥς φασιν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν μαθη-
μάτων, ὀρθογωνίου τριγώνου: μήκει μὲν γὰρ αἱ

1 ms. ἑβδόμη ἑβδομάς : Nicetas ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδες. ἐφ᾽ als is
omitted in Nicetas, Cohn substitutes for it ἀφέσεως. For ἃ

discussion of the text as a whole see App. pp. 627-628.
2 MS. παραλαμβανομένων.

* There is no mention of barley in Lev. xxiii. As Josephus,
Ant. iii. 250, says the same, the use of barley had probably
become a general practice, which Philo by a slip of memory
ascribes to the law.

? Or “ privileges.” If note 6 on ὃ 162 is right, the
προνομίαι consist in this, that the Sheaf is the first to exhibit
all the virtues which accompany thanksgiving and have been
enumerated in the preceding sections. Certainly in no other

416

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 175-177

form of food for which thanks had not been offered
in the proper and rightful manner. And therefore
the law ordained® that the first-fruit offerings should
be made of barley, a species of grain regarded as
holding the second place in value as food. For wheat
holds the first place and as the first-fruit of this has
greater distinction, the law postponed it to a more
suitable season in the future. It does not anticipate
matters, but puts it in storage for the time being, so
that the various thank-offerings may be adjusted to
their appointed dates as they recur.

XXX. The festival of the Sheaf, which has all
these grounds of precedence,’ indicated in the law, is
also in fact anticipatory of another greater feast. For
it is from it that the fiftieth day is reckoned, by
counting seven sevens, which are then crowned with
the sacred number by the monad,¢ which is an incor-
poreal image of God, Whom it resembles because it
also stands alone. This is the primary excellence ex-
hibited by fifty, but there is another which should
be mentioned. One reason among others which
makes its nature so marvellous and admirable is that
it is formed by what the mathematicians tell us is the
most elemental and venerable of existing things,4
namely, the right-angled triangle. In length its

sense does the law give προνομία to a rite which is disposed
of in a few verses in Leviticus and not mentioned elsewhere
in the Pentateuch.

¢ 2,6. the addition of 1 turns 49 into the sacred number 50.
The use of ἐπισφραγίζεται in ὃ 211 is exactly similar.

@ Lit. “ of what is included in existences.’’ The same view
of 50 as the sum of the squares of the sides of the primary
right-angled triangle appears in De Vit. Cont. 65, where it
is called the ἁγιώτατος καὶ φυσικώτατος of numbers. See
also Mos. ii. 80 and note. For other references see Zeller,
Presocratic Philosophy (Eng. Trans.), i. 429 f.

VOL. VII QE 417

176

177

178

179

180

PHILO

τοῦδε πλευραὶ τριῶν οὖσαι Kal τεσσάρων Kal
πέντε συμπληροῦσιν ἀριθμὸν τὸν δώδεκα, τοῦ
ζῳοφόρου κύκλου παράδειγμα, διπλασιασθείσης
ἑξάδος τῆς γονιμωτάτης, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ τελειό-
τητος, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων συμπληρουμένη μερῶν, οἷς"
ἐξισοῦται:" δυνάμει δ᾽, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀπογεννῶσι τὸν
πεντηκοστὸν διὰ τοῦ τρὶς τρία καὶ τετράκις τέσσαρα
καὶ πεντάκις πέντε, ὥστε ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι λέγειν
τοσούτῳ (κρείττω; δωδεκάδοςἶ εἶναι πεντηκοντάδα
ὅσῳ καὶ τὸ δυνάμει τοῦ μήκει. εἰ δὲ τοῦ ἐλάττονος
εἰκών ἐστιν ἡ καλλιστεύουσα τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ
σφαῖρα ἡ ζῳοφόρος, τίνος ἂν εἴη παράδειγμα τὸ
κρεῖττον, ἡ πεντηκοντάς, ἣ πάντως ἀμείνονος
φύσεως; περὶ ἧς οὐ καιρὸς λέγειν' αὔταρκες" γὰρ
ἐν τῷ παρόντι σεσημειῶσθαι τὴν διαφορὰν ὑπὲρ
τοῦ μὴ ἐν παρέργῳ προηγούμενον ἔργον τίθεσθαι.

Πρόσρησιν δ᾽ ἔ αχεν ἡ κατὰ τὸν πεντηκοστὸν
ἀριθμὸν ἐνισταμένη ἑορτὴ πρωτογεννημάτων, ἐν
ἡ δύο ἐζυμωμένους ἄρτους ἐκ πυροῦ γεγονότας
ἔθος προσφέρειν ἀπαρχὴν σίτου, τῆς ἀρίστης
τροφῆς. ὠνομάσθη δὲ πρωτογεννημάτων 7 ἢ διότι,
πρὶν εἰς τὴν ἀνθρώπων χρῆσιν ἐλθεῖν τὸν ἐπέτειον
καρπόν, τοῦ νέου σίτου τὸ πρῶτον. γέννημα καὶ ὁ
πρῶτος παραφανεὶς καρπὸς ἀπαρχὴ προσάγεται---
δίκαιον γὰρ καὶ ὅσιον τὴν μεγίστην λαβόντας παρὰ
θεοῦ δωρεὰν ἀφθονίαν ἀναγκαιοτάτης ὁμοῦ καὶ
ὠφελιμωτάτης ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡδίστης “τροφῆς μήτε
ἀπολαῦσαι μήτε συνόλως σπάσαι, πρὶν ἀπάρ ασθαι
τῷ χορηγῷ, διδόντας μὲν οὐδέν, αὐτοῦ γὰρ τὰ
πάντα καὶ κτήματα καὶ Swpeat, διὰ (dé) βραχέος

1 MS. ἡμερῶν αἷς. 2 MS. δεκάδος.
3 MS. Tod δυνάμει TO μῆκος. 4 MS. αὐτάρκως.

418

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 177-180

sides are 5, 3, 4, of which the sum is twelve, the
pattern of the zodiac cycle, the duplication of the
highly prolific six, which is the starting-point of per-
fection since it is the sum of the factors which pro-
duce it through multiplication. But we find that
the sides when raised to the second power, 2.e.
3x3+4x4+5x5, make 50, so that we must say
that 50 is superior to 12 in the same degree as the
second power is superior to the first. And if the
lesser of these is represented by the most excellent
of the heavenly spheres, the zodiac, the greater,
namely 50, must be the pattern of some quite superior
form of existence. But a discussion of this would be
out of place at this point. It is quite enough for
the present to call attention to the difference, so as to
avoid treating a prominent fact as of secondary im-
portance.

The feast which is held when the number 50 is
reached has acquired the title of “ first-products.”’ ¢
On it it is the custom to bring two leavened loaves
of wheaten bread for a sample offering of that kind
of grain as the best form of food. One explanation
of the name, “ Feast of First-products,”’ is that the
first produce of the young wheat and the earliest
fruit to appear is brought as a sample offering before
the year’s harvest comes to be used by men. It is
no doubt just and a religious duty that those who
have received freely a generous supply of sustenance
so necessary and wholesome and also palatable in
the highest degree should not enjoy or taste it at
all until they have brought a sample offering to the
Donor, not indeed as a gift, for all things and posses-
sions and gifts are His, but as a token, however small,

@ See on i. 183.
419

178

179

180

PHILO

συμβόλου παραφαίνοντας εὐχάριστον Kal θεοφιλὲς
ἦθος πρὸς τὸν χαρίτων μὲν ἀνεπιδεᾶ συνεχεῖς δὲ
181 καὶ ἀενάους χάριτας ἄρδοντα--ἢ διότι κατ᾽ ἐξοχὴν
πρῶτον καὶ ἄριστον γέννημα ὁ τοῦ σίτου καρπός
ἐστιν, "ἐν δευτέρᾳ τάξει τῶν ἄλλων καταριθμου-
μένων ὅσα σπαρτά: καθάπερ γὰρ ἄρχων (μὲνΣ ἐν
πόλει, κυβερνήτης δ᾽ ἐν νηὶ πρῶτος εἶναι λέγεται,
τῷ τὸν μὲν κατὰ πόλιν, τὸν δὲ κατὰ ναῦν ἀφ-
ηγεῖσθαί τε καὶ προφέρειν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ
τοῦ σίτου καρπὸς ὀνόματι συνθέτῳ πρωτογέννημα
ὠνομάσθη διὰ τὸ πάντων ἄριστος εἶναι τῶν
σπειρομένων" ἔδει γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ τοῦ ζῴων ἀρίστου
182 τροφὴν εἶναι. “ἐζυμωμένοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν ot ἄρτοι, τοῦ
[295] | νόμου ζύμην ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν ἀναφέρειν a ἀπειπόντος,
οὐχ ἵνα διαμάχη τις ἡ ἐν τοῖς ,«προσταττομένοις,
ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τρόπον τινὰ δι᾽ ἑνὸς εἴδους λαβεῖν

τε καὶ δοῦναι, λαβεῖν μὲν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν προσ-
φερόντων εὐχαριστίαν, δοῦναι δὲ εὐθὺς ἀνυπερθέτως

τὰ κομιζόμενα τοῖς προσφέρουσιν, οὐ μὴν ὥστε
188 χρῆσθαι: χρήσονται γὰρ τοῖς ἅπαξ καθιερωθεῖσιν
οἷς ἔξεστί τε καὶ ἐφίεται, ἔξεστι δὲ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις,

ol τῶν προσαγομένων τῷ βωμῷ ὅσα μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ
ἀσβέστου πυρὸς ἀναλίσκεται τὴν μετουσίαν ἔλαβον
φιλανθρωπίᾳ νόμου δοθεῖσαν 7 μισθὸν ὑπηρεσιῶν'

ἢ γέρας ἀγώνων, οὗς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀθλοῦσιν, ἢ
κλῆρον ἱερόν, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν χώραν μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν

1 Ms. μισθῶν ἢ ὑπηρεσιῶν.

α This is the only sense I can give to ἔδει γάρ (“it had to
be’’). Heinemann “ bestimmt,” but would not this be ἔμελλε ἢ
> Lev. ii. 11, cf. above i. 291. The meaning of what
follows seems to be that the prohibition is waived in this case,
because the loaves, though given to the Lord (Lev. xxiii. 20),

420

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 180-183

by which they show a disposition of thankfulness and
loyalty to Him Who, while He needs no favours, sends
the showers of His favours in never-failing constancy.
Another reason for the name may be that wheaten
grain is pre-eminent as the first and best product,
all the other sown crops ranking in the second class
in comparison ; for as an archon ina city or a pilot in
a ship are said to be the first because they regulate
the course of the city or the ship, as the case may be,
so wheaten grain has received the compound name
of “ first-product ’”’ because it is the best of all the
cereals, which it would not be,* unless it were also
the food used by the best of living creatures. The
loaves are leavened in spite of the prohibition? against
bringing leaven to the altar, not to produce any con-
tradiction in the ordinances, but to ensure that so to
speak there shall be a single kind, both for receiving
and giving. By receiving I mean the thanksgiving
of the offerers, by giving the immediate return with-
out any delay to the offerers of what they bring,
though not for their own use. For food that has
once been consecrated will be used by those who
have the right and authority, and that right belongs
to those who act as priests who through the benefi-
cence of the law have the right to partake of any
thing brought to the altar which is not consumed
by the undying fire—a privilege granted either as a
payment for officiating or as a prize for the contests
which they endure in the cause of piety, or a sacred
allotment in lieu of land, in the apportionment of
are also received back from Him (“they shall be holy to the
Lord for the priest that offers them’”’). It seems to be assumed
that therefore they must be brought in the most palatable

form, cf. ὃ 184, presumably because it is a festal occasion, as
the unleavened shew-bread was also eaten by the priests.

421

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

PHILO

τρόπον ταῖς ἄλλαις φυλαῖς τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος
διανειμάμενοι. 1 σύμβολον δ᾽ ἐστὶ καὶ
ἄλλων ἡ ζύμη δυεῖν' ἑνὸς μὲν ἐντελεστάτης καὶ
ὁλοκλήρου τροφῆς, ἡ ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἐν τῇ καθ᾽
ἡμέραν χρήσει κρείττονα καὶ λυσιτελεστέραν'
κράτιστος δὲ καὶ ὁ τοῦ σίτου “καρπὸς ἐν σπαρτοῖς,
ὡς ἁρμόττειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀρίστου ποιεῖσθαι τὴν
ἀρίστην ἀπαρχήν. ἕτερον δὲ συμβολικώτερον' πᾶν
τὸ ἐζυμωμένον ἐπαίρεται: χαρὰ δὲ ψυχῆς ἐστιν
εὔλογος ἔπαρσις" ἐπ᾽ οὐδενὶ δὲ τῶν ὄντων μᾶλλον
χαίρειν πέφυκεν ἄνθρωπος ἢ εὐπορίᾳ καὶ ἀφθονίᾳ
τῶν ἀναγκαίων' ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἄξιον γεγηθότας εὐ-
χαριστεῖν, ποιουμένους ἀοράτου τῆς περὶ τὴν
διάνοιαν εὐπαθείας αἰσθητὴν ϑιὰ τῶν ἐζυμωμένων
ἄρτων εὐχαριστίαν. ἄρτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν ἀλλ᾽
οὐ σῖτος" ἡ ἀπαρχή, διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ἔτι ἐνδεῖν τῶν εἰς
ἀπόλαυσιν τροφῆς, σίτου γεγονότος" λέγεται γὰρ
ὅτι τῶν σπαρτῶν ἁπάντων τελευταῖος ὃ πυρὸς
γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκε καὶ πρὸς ἄμητον παρίστασθαι.
δύο δ᾽ εἰσὶν ἄριστα δυοῖν χρόνων χαριστήρια, τοῦ
τε παρεληλυθότος, ἐν ᾧ τῶν ἐξ ἐνδείας καὶ λιμοῦ
κακῶν οὐκ ἐπειράθημεν ἐν εὐετηρίᾳ διάγοντες,
καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος, διότι τὰς εἰς αὐτὸν χορηγίας
καὶ παρασκευὰς εὐτρεπισάμεθα καὶ γέμοντες χρη-

1 MS. δανεισάμενοι, which Cohn retains, holding that it can
bear the sense of acquiring (Hermes, 1908, p. 200). It may
be objected to the correction (Tischendorf 9) that no example
is given of the middle in this sense, but it is a natural
extension.

2 Cohn brackets ἀλλ᾽ οὐ σῖτος. See note ὁ.

¢ See App. p. 628.
ὃ Cohn’s rejection of ἀλλ᾽ οὐ σῖτος as “᾿ a foolish insertion ἢ

422

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 183-187

which they had not received their proper share like

the other tribes. But leaven is also a 184

symbol for two other things: in one way it stands
for food in its most complete and perfect form, such
that in our daily usage none is found to be superior
or more nourishing, and as wheat-meal is superior
to that of the other seed crops, its excellence de-
mands that the offering made in recognition of it

should be of the same high quality. The other point 185

is more symbolical. Everything that is leavened
rises, and joy is the rational elevation or rising of the
soul. And there is nothing that exists which more
naturally gives a man joy than the possession in
generous abundance of necessaries. Such rightly
call forth gladness and thanksgiving in those who
by the leavened loaves give outward expression to
the invisible sense of well-being in their hearts.

The offering takes the form of loaves
instead of wheaten meal,? because when the wheat
has come there is nothing still missing in the wa
of appetizing food. For we are told that of all the
seed crops, wheat is the last to spring up and be

ready for harvesting. And these thank-offerings of 187

the best kind are two in number for the two kinds
of time, the past and the future; for the past,
because our days have been spent in abundance,
free from the experience of the evils of want and

186

famine ; for the future, because we have laid by and ~

prepared resources to meet it, and are full of bright

rests on the ground that the antithesis is between the wheaten
loaves and other kinds of grain. I think he misapprehends
the point, which is that when the harvest is completed by the
reaping of the wheat, the offering naturally takes the form
in which it is actually consumed. I suspect that Philo
connects ἄρτος and ἄρτιος.

423

188

189

190

[296]

PHILO

στῶν ἐλπίδων ταμιευόμεθα τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ δωρεὰς
εἰς τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν προφέροντες; αἰεὶ δίαιταν,
ὅσων ἂν (7) χρεία κατὰ νόμους τῆς οἰκονομικῆς
ae

ἀρετῆς.

XXXI. “Ἑξῆς ἐστιν ἱερομηνία, καθ᾽ ἣν ἅμα ταῖς
ἀναγομέναις θυσίαις ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ σαλπίζειν ἔθος"
ἀφ᾽ οὗ καὶ “σαλπίγγων ἐτύμως ἑορτὴ προσ-
αγορεύεται, διττὸν λόγον ἔχουσα, τὸν μὲν ἴδιον τοῦ
ἔθνους, τὸν δὲ κοινὸν ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων: ἴδιον
μὲν ὑπόμνησιν τεραστίου καὶ μεγαλουργηθέντος
ἔργου, καθ᾽ ὃν χρόνον τὰ λόγια τῶν νόμων ἐθεσπί-
Cero: τότε yap ἀπ᾽ οὐρανοῦ φωνὴ σάλπιγγος
ἐξήχησεν, ἣν εἰκὸς ἄχρι τῶν τοῦ παντὸς φθάσαι
περάτων, ἵνα καὶ τοὺς μὴ παρόντας καὶ μόνον οὐκ
ἐν ἐσχατιαῖς κατοικοῦντας διὰ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος
ἡ πτοία ἐπιστρέψῃ λογισαμένους, ὅπερ εἰκός, ὅτι
τὰ οὕτως μεγάλα μεγάλων ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐστὶ
σημεῖα" τί δὲ μεῖζον 7 ὠφελιμώτερον εἰς ἀνθρώπους
ἐλθεῖν ἐδύνατο τῶν γενικῶν νόμων, ovs προ-
εφήτευσεν ὁ θεός, οὐ δι᾿ ἑρμηνέως καθάπερ τὰ ἐν
εἴδει νόμιμα ; ο΄ τοῦτο μὲν ἐξαίρετον τοῦ
ἔθνους" κοινὸν δὲ πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους. ἐκεῖνο"
ἡ σάλπιγξ ὄργανόν ἐστι πολέμου καὶ πρὸς τὴν κατ᾽
ἐχθρῶν | ἐφόρμησιν, ὁπότε καιρὸς εἴη συμπλέκεσθαι
καὶ πρὸς ἀνάκλησιν, ὁπότε διακρίνεσθαι δέοι πρὸς
τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐπανελευσομένους στρατόπεδα. ἔστι δὲ
καὶ ἕτερος θεήλατος πόλεμος, ὅταν ἡ φύσις ἐν
ἑαυτῇ στασιάσῃ, τῶν μερῶν ἀντεπιτιθεμένων
ἀλλήλοις, ἰσότητος εὐνομωτάτης πλεονεξίᾳ τοῦ

1 MS. προσφέροντες.

424:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 187-100

hopes while we dispense and bring out for daily use
the gifts of God as they are needed by the rules of
good economy.

XXXI. Next comes the opening of the sacred 188
month,? when it is customary to sound the trumpet
in the temple at the same time that the sacrifices are
brought there, and its name of “ trumpet feast ”’ is
derived from this. It has a twofold significance,
partly to the nation in particular, partly to all man-
kind in general. In the former sense it is a reminder
of a mighty and marvellous event which came to
pass when the oracles of the law were given from
above. ° For then the sound of the trumpet pealed 189
from heaven and reached, we may suppose, the ends
of the universe, so that the event might strike terror
even into those who were far from the spot and dwell-
ing well nigh at the extremities of the earth, who
would come to the natural conclusion that such
mighty signs portended mighty consequences. And
indeed what could men receive mightier or more
profitable than the general laws which came from
the mouth of God, not like the particular laws,
through an interpreter? This is a signific- 190
ance peculiar to the nation. What follows is common
to all mankind. The trumpet is the instrument used
in war, both to sound the advance against the enemy
when the moment comes for engaging battle and also
for recalling the troops when they have to separate
and return to their respective camps. And there is
another war not of human agency when nature is at
strife in herself, when her parts make onslaught one
on another and her law-abiding sense of equality

α See App. p. 628.
Ὁ See on De Dec. 159, and cf. i. 186. ¢ See Ex. xix. 16.

425

19]

192

193

194

PHILO

ἀνίσου κρατηθείσης. ὑπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῶν
πολέμων φθείρεται τὰ ἐπίγεια, πρὸς μὲν ἐχθρῶν
δενδροτομίαις, δῃώσεσιν, ἐμπρήσεσι τροφῶν καὶ
πεδίων σταχυηφορούντων, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν
αὐχμοῖς, ἐπομβρίαις, νοτίων βίαις πνευμάτων,
φλογώσεσι ταῖς ἀφ᾽ ἡλίου, χιονώδει περιψύξει,
τῆς ἁρμονίας τῶν ἐτησίων ὡρῶν περιηκούσης εἰς
ἀναρμοστίαν, ἕνεκά μοι δοκῶ τῆς οὐ κατὰ μικρὸν
ἐπιπολαζούσης ἀλλ᾽ ἀθρόῳ φορᾷ κεχυμένης ἀ-
σεβείας, παρ᾽ οἷς ἂν ταῦτα γίνηται. διὰ τοῦτο
καθάπερ' ἐπώνυμον ἕορτὴν ὀργάνου πολεμικοῦ
σάλπιγγος ἀπέφηνεν ὁ νόμος, ἐπ᾽ εὐχαριστίᾳ τοῦ
εἰρηνοποιοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰρηνοφύλακος, ὃς καὶ τὰς
ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι τοῦ παντὸς
στάσεις ἀνελὼν εὐθηνίας καὶ εὐετηρίας καὶ τῶν
ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἀφθονίαν ἀπειργάσατο, μηδὲν
ἐμπύρευμα καρπῶν φθορᾶς ἐάσας ζωπυρηθῆναι.
XXXII. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν σαλπίγγων ἄγεται
νηστεία ἑορτή. τάχα ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν ἑτεροδόξων
καὶ ψέγειν. τὰ καλὰ μὴ αἰδουμένων" ἑορτὴ δ᾽ ἐστὶ
τίς, ἐν ἡ μὴ συμπόσια καὶ συσσίτια καὶ ἑστιατόρων
καὶ ἑστιωμένων θίασος καὶ πολὺς ἄκρατος καὶ
τράπεζαι πολυτελεῖς καὶ χορηγίαι καὶ παρασκευαὶ
τῶν ἐν δημοθοινίᾳ πάντων εὐφροσύναι τε καὶ
κῶμοι σὺν ἀθύρμασι καὶ τωθασμοῖς καὶ παιδιὰ
μετ᾽ αὐλοῦ καὶ κιθάρας καὶ τυμπάνων τε καὶ
κυμβάλων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα (Kata) τὸ παρα-
λελυμένον καὶ ἐκτεθηλυμμένον εἶδος μουσικῆς dv
ὦτων ἐγείρει τὰς ἀκαθέκτους ἐπιθυμίας; ἐν γὰρ

1 Perhaps, as Tischendorf, καθάπερ <elzov>.

« Of. i. 186.
426

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 191-104

is vanquished by the greed for inequality. Both
these wars work destruction on the face of the earth.
The enemy cut down the fruit-trees, ravage the
country, set fire to the foodstuffs and the ripening ears
of corn in the open fields, while the forces of nature
use drought, rainstorms, violent moisture-laden winds,
scorching sun-rays, intense cold accompanied by
snow, with the regular harmonious alternations of
the yearly seasons turned into disharmony, a state
of things in my opinion due to the impiety which does
not gain a gradual hold but comes rushing with the
force of a torrent among those whom these things
befall. And therefore the law instituted this feast
figured by that instrument of war the trumpet, which
gives it its name, to be as a thank-offering to God the
peace-maker and peace-keeper, Who destroys faction
both in cities and in the various parts of the universe
and creates plenty and fertility and abundance of
other good things and leaves the havoc of fruits with-
out a single spark to be rekindled.

XXXII. The next feast held after the ‘‘ Trumpets”
is the Fast.* Perhaps some of the perversely minded
who are not ashamed to censure things excellent will
say, What sort of a feast is this in which there are no
gatherings to eat and drink, no company of enter-
tainers or entertained, no copious supply of strong
drink nor tables sumptuously furnished, nor a gener-
ous display of all the accompaniments of a public
banquet, nor again the merriment and revelry with
frolic and drollery, nor dancing to the sound of flute
and harp and timbrels and cymbals, and the other
instruments of the debilitated and invertebrate kind
of music which through the channel of the ears
awaken the unruly lusts? For it is in these and

427

19]

192

198

194

195

196 μᾶλλον ἢ βλαβερωτάτης ἡδονῆς; δεύ-

197

PHILO

4, \ \ 4 e μ \ 9 4
τούτοις καὶ διὰ τούτων, ὡς ἔοικε, TO εὐφραίνεσθαι
τίθενται ἀγνοίᾳ τῆς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν εὐφροσύνης" ἣν
9 4 9 90." e 4 A
ὀξυδερκεστάτοις ὄμμασιν ἰδὼν 6 πάνσοφος Μωυσῆς
τὴν νηστείαν ἑορτὴν ἀνεῖπε καὶ ἑορτῶν τὴν

4 4 ’ὔ c¢ 4 ’ὔ })
μεγίστην πατρίῳ γλώττῃ “᾿ σάββατα σαββάτων
an 5 , “ ς "5 Ἀ ὦ ” ς
αὐτὴν ὀνομάσας, ὡς δ᾽ ἂν “EAAnves εἴποιεν, EBSo-

4 ς 4 \ ἐλ», ς 4 \ 4

μάδα ἑβδομάδων καὶ ἁγίων ἁγιωτέραν, διὰ πολλά:
πρῶτον μὲν (δι) ἐγκράτειαν, ἣν ἀεὶ
καὶ πανταχοῦ παραγγέλλων ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς κατὰ
βίον ἐπιδείκνυσθαι πράγμασι διά τε γλώττης καὶ
γαστρὸς καὶ τῶν μετὰ γαστέρα νυνὶ δὲ διαφερόντως
κελεύει περιέπειν, ἐξαίρετον ἡμέραν ἀναθεὶς αὐτῇ"
σιτίων γάρ τις καὶ ποτῶν μαθὼν ἀλογεῖν τῶν
οὕτως “ἀναγκαίων τίνος οὐκ ἂν ὑπερίδοι τῶν περιτ-
τῶν, ἃ γέγονεν οὐ διαμονῆς καὶ σωτηρίας ἕνεκα
4
τερον δὲ ἐπειδὴ πᾶσα ἀνάκειται λυταῖς καὶ ἱκεσίαις,
περὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἄχρις ἑσπέρας ἐξ ἑωθινοῦ τῶν
ἀνθρώπων σχολὴν ἀγόντων ἢ δεητικωτάτας εὐχάς,
αἷς σπουδάζουσι τὸν θεὸν ἐξευμενίζεσθαι παραίτησιν
’
ἁμαρτημάτων ἑκουσίων τε ‘Kal ἀκουσίων αἰτού-
\ \ 2r 4 9 ὃ 9 ς \ LAA ‘\
μενοι Kal χρηστὰ ἐλπίζοντες, od δι᾽ ἑαυτοὺς ἀλλὰ
διὰ τὴν ἵλεω φύσιν τοῦ συγγνώμην πρὸ κολάσεως
ὁρίζοντος. τρίτον δὲ διὰ τὸν καιρόν, ἐν
a \ 4
ᾧ συμβέβηκε τὴν νηστείαν ἄγεσθαι: κατὰ yap

“-- Yj
τοῦτον ἤδη συγκεκόμισται πάντα ὅσα δι᾽ ἔτους
ἤνεγκεν ἡ γῆ. τὸ μὲν οὖν εὐθὺς ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῶν
γεγονότων ἀπληστίας ὑπέλαβεν ἔργον εἶναι, τὸ δὲ

\
νηστεῦσαι καὶ τροφῆς μὴ προσάψασθαι παντελοῦς

@ So τχχ, in Lev. xvi. 31 and xxiii. 32. In E.V. “
sabbath of solemn rest.”’

4.28

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 194-197

through these that men, in their ignorance of what
true merriment is, consider that the merriment of a
feast is to be found. This the clear-seeing eyes of
Moses the ever wise discerned and therefore he called
the fast a feast, the greatest of the feasts, in his native
tongue a Sabbath of Sabbaths,* or as the Greeks
would say, a seven of sevens, a holier than the holy.
He gave it this name for many reasons.

First, because of the self-restraint which it entails ;
always and everywhere indeed he exhorted them to
shew this in all the affairs of life, in controlling the
tongue and the belly and the organs below the belly,
but on this occasion especially he bids them do
honour to it by dedicating thereto a particular day.
To one who has learnt to disregard food and drink
which are absolutely necessary, are there any among
the superfluities of life which he can fail to despise,
things which exist to promote not so much preserva-
tion and permanence of life as pleasure with all its
powers of mischief ? Secondly, because
the holy-day is entirely devoted to prayers and sup-
plications, and men from morn to eve employ their
leisure in nothing else but offering petitions of humble
entreaty in which they seek earnestly to propitiate
God and ask for remission of their sins, voluntary and
involuntary, and entertain bright hopes looking not
to their own merits but to the gracious nature of Him
Who sets pardon before chastisement.

Thirdly, because of the time at which the celebration
of the fast occurs, namely, that when all the annual
fruits of the earth have been gathered in. To eat
and drink of these without delay would, he held,
shew gluttony, but to fast and refrain from taking
them as food shews the perfect piety which teaches

429

195

196

197

PHILO

εὐσεβείας, ἥτις ἀναδιδάσκει τὴν διάνοιαν μὴ πε-
ποιθέναι τοῖς εὐτρεπισθεῖσι καὶ παρεσκευασμένοις
ὡς ὑγείας ἢ ζωῆς αἰτίοις" ταῦτα yap Kal παρόντα
198 πολλάκις ἔβλαψε καὶ μὴ παρόντα ὦνησε. μόνον
οὐκ ἄντικρυς, κἂν μηδὲν τῇ φωνῇ φθέγγωνται τὸ
παράπαν, οἱ μετὰ τὴν συγκομιδὴν τῶν καρπῶν
ἀπεχόμενοι σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν ἐκβοῶσι ταῖς ψυχαῖς
καί φασι ταῦτα: τὰς μὲν τῆς φύσεως χάριτας
εἰλήφαμεν ἄσμενοι καὶ ταμιευόμεθα, φθαρτὸν δὲ
οὐδὲν ἐπιγραφόμεθά ποτε τῆς ἡμετέρας διαμονῆς
αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ τὸν γεννητὴν καὶ πατέρα καὶ σωτῆρα

τοῦ τε κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ θεόν, ᾧ καὶ διὰ
τούτων καὶ ἄνευ τούτων τρέφειν θέμις καὶ δια-
199 φυλάττειν. ἰδοὺ γοῦν καὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους προ-
γόνους μυριάσι πολλαῖς ἐρήμην ἀτριβῆ καὶ πᾶσαν
ἄγονον διεξιόντας γενεᾶς βίον ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα
[297] | διέθρεψεν ὡς ἐν βαθυγειοτάτῃ καὶ εὐφορωτάτῃ
χώρᾳ, πηγὰς μὲν τότε πρῶτον ἀνατεμὼν εἰς
ἄφθονον ποτοῦ χρῆσιν, ὕων δὲ “τροφὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ
μήτε πλείονα μήτ᾽ ἐλάττονα τῆς διεξαρκούσης εἰς
ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἵνα ἀταμιεύτοις χρώμενοι τοῖς
ἀναγκαίοις μὴ πωλῶσιν ἀψύχων, ὧν ἂν ἐθησαυρί-
σαντο, τὰς ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας, ἀλλὰ μικρὰ φροντί-
ζοντες τῶν χορηγουμένων τὸν χορηγὸν θαυμά wor
Kal προσκυνῶσι καὶ τοῖς ἁρμόττουσιν ὕμνοις καὶ
200 εὐδαιμονισμοῖς γεραίρωσιν. ἡ δὲ ἡμέρα
τῆς νηστείας ἄγεται νόμου προστάξει δεκάτῃ
μηνὸς ἀεί. διὰ τί δὲ ἐν τῇ δεκάτῃ; ws ἐν τοῖς

περὶ αὐτῆς λόγοις ἠκριβώσαμεν, ὀνομάζεται μὲν

@ By θέμις is meant, perhaps, that it is in accordance with
the law of His being. But the application of the word to

430

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 197-200

the mind not to put trust in what stands ready pre-
pared before us as though it were the source of health
and life. For often its presence proves injurious and
its absence beneficial. Those who abstain from food 198
and drink after the ingathering of the fruits cry
aloud to us with their souls, and though their voices
utter nosound, their language could hardly be plainer.
They say, “ We have gladly received and are storing
the boons of nature, yet we do not ascribe our pre-
servation to any corruptible thing, but to God the
Parent and Father and Saviour of the world and all
that is therein, Who has the power and the right @ to
nourish and sustain us by means of these or without
these. See, for example, how the many thousands 199
of our forefathers as they traversed the trackless and
all-barren desert, were for forty years, the life of a
generation, nourished by Him as in a land of richest
and most fertile soil; how He opened fountains
unknown before to give them abundance of drink
for their use; how He rained food from heaven,
neither more nor less than what sufficed for each
day, that they might consume what they needed
without hoarding, nor barter for the prospect of
soulless stores® their hopes of His goodness, but
taking little thought of the bounties received rather
reverence and worship the bountiful Giver and
honour Him with the hymns and benedictions that
are His due.”’ By order of the law the 200
fast is held on the tenth day. Why on the tenth?
As has been shewn in our detailed discussion of that

-

God is strange, and I do not know of any exact parallel.
οὐ θέμις, as in Plato, Ap. 21 B οὐ yap δήπου ψεύδεταί ye: od yap
θέμις αὐτῷ, is not quite the same.

> Lit. “ the lifeless things which they would have stored.”’

431

201

202

203

PHILO

ὑπὸ σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν παντέλεια, περιέχει δ᾽ ἐν αὑτῇ
τὰς ἀναλογίας πάσας, τήν τε ἀριθμητικὴν καὶ τὴν
ἁρμονικὴν καὶ τὴν γεωμετρικήν, καὶ προσέτι τὰς
ἁρμονίας, ἐπίτριτον τὴν διὰ τεσσάρων καὶ ἡμιόλιον
τὴν διὰ πέντε καὶ διπλασίαν τὴν διὰ πασῶν καὶ
τετραπλασίαν τὴν δὶς διὰ πασῶν, ἔχει δὲ καὶ
τὸν ἐπόγδοον λόγον, ὡς εἶναι πλήρωμα τῶν κατὰ
μουσικὴν θεωρημάτων τελειότατον, ἀφ᾽ οὗ καὶ
ὠνόμασται παντέλεια. τὴν οὖν σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν
ἔνδειαν προστέταχε κατ᾽ ἀριθμὸν τέλειον καὶ πλήρη
γίνεσθαι τῆς δεκάδος διὰ τὰς τοῦ ἀρίστου τῶν ἐν
ἡμῖν ἀρίστας τροφάς, ἵνα μηδεὶς ὑπολάβῃ λιμὸν
τὸ πάντων ἀφορητότατον κακῶν εἰσηγεῖσθαι τὸν
ἱεροφάντην, ἀλλὰ τῆς εἰς τὰς τοῦ σώματος δεξα-
μενὰς φερομένης ἐπιρροῆς ἀνακοπὴν βραχεῖαν.
οὕτως γὰρ ἔμελλε διαυγὲς καὶ καθαρὸν τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς
λογικῆς πηγῆς [εἰς καθαρὸν] ἐπὶ ψυχὴν φέρεσθαι
νᾶμα λείως, ἐπειδήπερ αἱ συνεχεῖς καὶ ἐπάλληλοι
τροφαὶ κατακλύζουσαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν.
προσεπισύρουσιν, εἰ δ᾽ ἐπισχεθεῖεν, εὖ μάλα
στηριχθεὶς ὡς ἐπὶ ξηρᾶς ἀτραποῦ καὶ λεωφόρου
τὴν πορείαν ἄπταιστον δυνήσεται ποιεῖσθαι τῶν
θέας καὶ ἀκοῆς ἀξίων ἐφιέμενος. ἄλλως τε ἀρ-
μόττον ἦν, τῶν εἰς εὐθηνίαν ἁπάντων κατὰ νοῦν
κεχωρηκότων ἐπὶ τελείοις καὶ πλήρεσιν ἀγαθοῖς,
ἐν εὐετηρίᾳ καὶ χορηγιῶν ἀφθονίᾳ λαβεῖν ἐνδείας
ὑπόμνησιν ἀποχῇ σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν καὶ λιτὰς καὶ
ἱκεσίας ποιεῖσθαι, ἅμα μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ εἰς ἀληθῆ
πεῖραν ἐλθεῖν ἀπορίας τῶν ἀναγκαίων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ

@ Cf. De Dec. 20, 21. But the “detailed discussion ”’
probably refers ἰο ἃ lost treatise on numbers. Cf. Mos. ii. 115
τῇ περὶ ἀριθμῶν πραγματείᾳ, and De Op. 52.

432

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 200-203

number,? it is called by the learned the all-perfect,
and embraces all the progressions, arithmetical, har-
monic and geometrical, and further the harmonies,
the fourth, the fifth, the octave and the double
octave, representing respectively the ratios 4: 3,
8:2, 2:1 and 4:1, and it also contains the ratio of
9 : 8, 50 that it sums up fully and perfectly the lead-
ing truths of musical science, and for this reason it has
received its name of the all-perfect. In ordaining 20]
that this privation of food and drink should be based
on the full and perfect number 10, he intended to
prescribe the best possible form of nourishment for
the best part of us. He did not wish anyone to sup-
pose that as their instructor in the mysteries he was
advocating starvation, the most intolerable of suffer-
ings, but only a brief stoppage in the influx which
passes into the receptacles of the body. For this 202
would ensure that the stream from the fountain of
reason should flow pure and crystal-clear with smooth
course into the soul, because the constantly repeated
administrations of food which submerge the body
sweep the reason away as well, whereas if they are
checked, that same reason stoutly fortified can in
pursuit of all that is worth seeing and hearing make
its way without stumbling as upon a dry firm cause-
way. Besides, it was meet and right when every- 203
thing has shewn abundance as they would have it,
and they enjoy a full and perfect measure of good-
ness, that amid this prosperity and lavish supply of
boons, they should by abstaining from food and drink
remind themselves of what it is to want, and offer
prayers and supplications, on the one hand to ask
that they may never really experience the lack of
necessities, on the other to express their thankfulness

VOL. VII QF 433

PHILO

A > aA ’ὔ ἢ
εὐχαριστοῦντας, ὅτι ἐν ἀγαθῶν περιουσίᾳ μέ-
μνηνται κακῶν οὐ γενομένων. τούτων μὲν δὴ
ἅλις.

204 ΧΧΧΙΠ]. Τελευταία δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἑορτὴ τῶν ἐνιαυσίων

205

207

προσαγορευομένη σκηναΐ, καιρὸν ἔχουσα TOV μετ-
οπωρινῆς ἰσημερίας" ἐξ οὗ δύο παρίσταται, τό τε
δεῖν ἰσότητα τιμᾶν ἀνισότητα ἐχθραίνοντας---ἡ μὲν
γὰρ δικαιοσύνης ἐστίν, ἡ δὲ ἀδικίας ἀρχή τε καὶ
πηγή, καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀσκίου φωτός, ἡ δὲ σκότους
συγγενής---καὶ τὸ προσήκειν μετὰ τὴν ἁπάντων
καρπῶν τελείωσιν εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ τελεσφόρῳ θεῷ
καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν αἰτίῳ. τὸ γὰρ μετ-
όπωρον, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸ δήπου δηλοῖ τοὔνομα, καιρὸς
ὁ μετὰ τὴν ὀπώραν ἐστὶν ἤδη συγκεκομισμένην,
καὶ φόρους τοὺς ἐτησίους καὶ δασμοὺς τοὺς ἀναγ-
καίους εἰσενηνοχότων (TOV) σπαρτῶν τε καὶ
τῶν δένδρων καὶ τῆς γῆς ὅσας, τροφὰς ἐγέννησε
ταῖς τῶν ἀμυθήτων ζῴων ἰδέαις ἡμέρων τε καὶ
ἀγρίων ἀφθόνως παρεσχημένης, οὐ μόνον εἰς τὴν
ἐν χερσὶ καὶ πρόσκαιρον ἀπόλαυσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν
ὕστερον διὰ τὸ προμηθὲς τῆς φιλοζῴου φύσεως.
καὶ μὴν ἐν σκηναῖς προστέτακται διαιτᾶσθαι τὸν
χρόνον τῆς ἑορτῆς, ἤτοι διὰ τὸ μηκέτι εἶναι χρείαν
ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ διάγειν τὰ περὶ γεωργίαν ἐκπονοῦντας,
οὐδενὸς μὲν ὑπολειφθέντος ἔξω, πάντων δὲ καρπῶν
ἐναποκειμένων σιροῖς καὶ τοιουτοτρόποις χωρίοις
διὰ τὰς εἰωθυίας βλάβας παρακολουθεῖν ἔκ τε
φλογώσεως ἡλιακῆς καὶ φορᾶς ὑετῶν--ὅτε μὲν
γὰρ ἐν πεδίοις ἐστὶ τὰ τρέφοντα, μὴ συγκλεισά-
1 MS. ὅσα.

43.4:

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 203-207

because in such wealth of blessings they remember
the ills they have been spared. Enough on this
matter.

XXXIII. The last of the annual feasts, called 204

Tabernacles, recurs at the autumn equinox. From
this we may draw two morals. The first is, that we
should honour equality and hate inequality, for the
former is the source and fountain of justice, the latter
of injustice. The former is akin to open sunlight,
the latter to darkness. The second moral is, that
after all the fruits are made perfect, it is our duty to
thank God Who brought them to perfection and is

the source of all good things. For autumn, or after- 205

fruitage, is, as also the name clearly implies, the
season after the ripe fruit has been gathered in, when
the sown crops and the fruit-trees have paid their
annual toll and bounden tribute, and the land has
richly provided all that it yields for the sustenance of
the various kinds of animals without number, both
tame and wild, sustenance not only to be enjoyed on
the spot and for the moment, but also in the future,
through the foresight of nature, the friend of all that

lives. Further, the people are commanded, during 206

the time of the feast, to dwell in tents.2 The reason
of this may be that the labour of the husbandmen no
longer requires that they should live in the open air,
as nothing is now left unprotected but all the fruits
are stored in silos or similar places to escape the
damage which often ensues through the blazing sun-

shine or storms of rain. For when the crops which 207

feed us are standing in the open field, you can only
watch and guard the food so necessary to you, by

a Cf. i. 189.
> See Lev. xxiii. 40-43.

435

PHILO

’ \ 4 > \ A \
μενος θαλαμαίου γυναικὸς τρόπον ἀλλὰ προελθὼν
3 \ \ , > \ “- 9 ’ “A
ἐπιμελητὴς καὶ φύλαξ ef od τῶν ἀναγκαίων" κἂν
ὑπαιθρίῳ διατελοῦντί σοι προσπίπτῃ κρυμὸς καὶ

4 > " ” \ \ \ 4 ~
θάλπος, εἰσὶν ἔφεδροι (kat) σκιαὶ τὰ λάσια τῶν
U4 φ“ [ / A > 49 e 4 4
δένδρων, ois ὑποστείλας τὴν ἀφ᾽ ἑκατέρου δυνήσῃ
βλάβην εὐμαρῶς ἐκφυγεῖν: ὅταν δ᾽ οἱ καρποὶ

4
πάντες εἰσκομίζωνται, συνεισέρχου στεγανωτέρας
διαίτης ἐφιξόμενος πρὸς ἀνάπαυλαν ἀντὶ καμάτων.
ἃ “- 9 4
οὗς γεωπονῶν ὑπέμεινας" ἢ Su ὑπό-
A “A A , Δ
μνησιν τῆς τῶν προγόνων μακρᾶς ὁδοιπορίας, ἣν
9 “ A
du ἐρήμου ποιούμενοι βαθείας σκηναῖς πολυετῆ
208 χρόνον καθ᾽ ἕκαστον σταθμὸν ἐνδιῃτῶντο. προσ-
Va aA \
ἥκει δὲ καὶ ἐν πλούτῳ πενίας μεμνῆσθαι καὶ
10 4 > 4 \ 9 e 4 9 “A
ἀδοξίας ἐν δόξῃ Kal ἐν ἡγεμονίαις ἰδιωτικοῦ
Va > A
σχήματος καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ κινδύνων τῶν ἐν πολέμῳ
ν 9 “A aA . \ 9
καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς χειμώνων τῶν κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ ἐν
4 3 ’ e \ \ 9 a 4 av 9
πόλεσιν ἐρημίας" ἡδονὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι μείζων ἣ ἐν
ταῖς ἄγαν εὐπραγίαις ἔννοιαν ἔχειν παλαιῶν ἀτυχη-
4 \ \ aA e “-“ \ ” 9 \
209 μάτων. πρὸς δὲ TH ἡδονῇ καὶ ὄφελος οὐ μικρὸν
9 9 “-
εἰς ἀρετῆς ἄσκησιν ἐγγίνεται" λαβόντες γὰρ πρὸ
9 ~ Ss A
ὀφθαλμῶν τό τε εὖ Kal TO χεῖρον Kal TO μὲν
9
ἀπεωσμένοι καρπούμενοι δὲ τὸ ἄμεινον ἐξ ἀνάγκης

, a
εὐχάριστοι γίνονται τὸ ἦθος Kal πρὸς εὐσέβειαν
παρορμῶνται φόβῳ τῆς πρὸς τἀναντία μεταβολῆς.
, A ~ A A
ὅθεν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀγαθοῖς τὸν θεὸν Wdats
καὶ λόγοις γεραίρουσι καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηκέτι πει-

on “A lo e , ,

ραθῆναι κακῶν λιπαροῦσι Kal ἱκεσίαις ἐξευμενί-

4 \ e 4 “-Ἕ ς ~

210 ζονται. πάλιν δὲ ἡ ταύτης THs ἑορτῆς
9 \ ;

ἀρχὴ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ μηνὸς ἐνίσταται, διὰ τὴν

486

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 207-210

coming out and not shutting yourself up like a woman
who never stirs outside her quarters. And if while
you remain in the open air you encounter extreme
cold or heat, you have the thick growth of the trees
waiting to shade you, and sheltered under them you
can easily escape injury from either source. But
when all the fruits are being gathered in, come in
yourself also to seek a more weatherproof mode of
life and hope for rest in place of the toils which you
endured when labouring on the land.

α Another reason may be, that it should remind us of
the long journeyings of our forefathers in the depths
of the desert, when at every halting-place they spent
many ayearintents. And indeed it is well in wealth 208
to remember your poverty, in distinction your in-
significance, in high offices your position as a com-
moner, in peace your dangers in war, on land the
storms on sea, in cities the life of loneliness. For
there is no pleasure greater than in high prosperity
to call to mind old misfortunes. But besides giving 209
pleasure, it is a considerable help in the practice of
virtue. For people who having had both good and ill
before their eyes have rejected the ill and are enjoy-
ing the good, necessarily fall into a grateful frame of
mind and are urged to piety by the fear of a change
to the reverse, and also therefore in thankfulness for
their present blessings they honour God with songs
and words of praise and beseech Him and propitiate
Him with supplications that they may never repeat
the experience of such evils. Again, the 210
beginning of this feast comes on the fifteenth day of
the month for the same reason as was given when

¢ This is the reason assigned in Leviticus, l.c.

437

[298]
211

212

213

PHILO

λεχθεῖσαν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐαρινῆς ὥρας αἰτίαν, ἵνα
μὴ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ νύκτωρ πλήρης ὃ
κόσμος ἡ τοῦ φύσει παγκάλου φωτός, ἡλίου καὶ
σελήνης κατ᾽ ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀλλήλοις ἐπ-
ανατελλόντων αὐγαῖς ἀδιαστάτοις, ἃ ds* | μεθόριον οὐ
διακρίνει σκότος. ἑπτὰ δὲ ἡμέραις ὀγδόην ἐπι-
σφραγίζεται καλέσας “ ἐξόδιον ᾿᾿ αὐτήν, οὐκ
ἐκείνης, ὡς ἔοικε, μόνον τῆς ἑορτῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ
πασῶν τῶν ἐτησίων, ὅσας κατηριθμησάμην καὶ
διεξῆλθον: τελευταία γὰρ ἐστι τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ
συμπέρασμα. τάχα μέντοι καὶ πρῶτος
κύβος, ὀγδοᾶς, ἐπενεμήθη «τῇ, € ἑορτῇ διὰ τόδε" τῆς
μὲν δυνάμει στερεᾶς οὐσίας ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ κατὰ τὴν
ἀπὸ τῶν ἀσωμάτων μετάβασιν, τῆς δὲ νοητῆς
συμπέρασμα: τὰ δὲ νοητὰ ταῖς παραυξήσεσι πρὸς
τὴν στερεὰν φύσιν * - κ΄ καὶ ἡ μετοπωρινὴ
μέντοι ἑορτή, καθάπερ εἶπον, πλήρωμά τι καὶ
συμπέρασμα τῶν ἐντὸς ἐνιαυτοῦ πασῶν ἔοικεν
1 ms. and Nicetas αἷς.
2 Tor the missing verb Cohn suggests μεταβαίνει or πληροῦται.

α 2.6. ὃ 155.

>’ One would expect ἰσημερίας or the omission of ὥρας. in
which case ἑορτῆς would be understood. And so Heinemann,
‘ Frihlingsfest.” But ὥρας may be justified perhaps on the
ground that §§ 151 f. dealt rather with the spring as a whole
than with the equinox in particular.

¢ See Lev. xxiii. 36, Num. xxix. 35. This is “ the last day,
the great day of the feast’ in John vii. 37. The word ἐξόδιον

. js used both in Leviticus and Numbers ; E.V. ‘‘ solemn

assembly,” but in R.V. marg. “ closing festival.”’

¢ For the general idea cf. De Op. 98, where plane geometry
(γεωμετρία) and solid geometry (crepeoperpia) are identified
respectively with things incorporeal and corporeal, though
the equation of ἀσώματα to νοητά is something of an extension.

438

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 210-213

we were speaking? of the season of spring,’ namely
that the glorious light which nature gives should fill
the universe not only by day but also by night, be-
cause on that day the sun and moon rise in succession
to each other with no interval between their shining,
which is not divided by any borderland of darkness.
As a crown to the seven days he adds an eighth,° 211
which he calls the “ closing,’’ not meaning apparently
that it is the closing of that feast only, but also of
all the yearly feasts which I have enumerated and
described. For it is the last in the year and forms
its conclusion. Perhaps also the number 212
eight, the first cubic number, was assigned to the
feast for the following reason: it is the beginning of
the higher category of solids, marking where we pass
from the unsubstantial and bring to its conclusion the
category of the conceptual which rises to the solid
in the scale of ascending powers. And indeed the 213
autumn festival, being as I have said a sort of com-
plement and conclusion of all the feasts in the year,

By δυνάμει, represented in the translation by “‘higher,’’ he
means, perhaps, that solidity is gained by raising to a higher
power in the mathematical sense=zapavéjceot below. But
this technical use is generally, if not always, confined to
the second power or square (as in § 177) and the meaning
may be less technical = “ in nature” or “ value.”’ παραυξήσεσι
is taken by Heinemann to mean the increase from 7 to 8.
My preference for the rendering given above rests on the
use of the plural (unless this may be accounted for by the
plural νοητά). As I understand it, 1=the point, 2=the line,
4=the superficies, and 8=the solid. So in De Op. 91, 93
and 94 παραυξηθείς and παραύξων are used of the processes
by which 1 is raised by multiples of 2 to 64, and 3 to 729.
See further App. p. 628.

¢ Here the word πλήρωμα, used in 8 200 in the sense of
sum or fullness, =that which fills up. For examples of both
these senses see L. & S. revised.

439

PHILO

εἶναι σταθερώτερον Kal παγιώτερον, τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς
χώρας προσόδους εἰληφότων ἤδη καὶ μηκέτ᾽
ἐνδοιασμοῖς τοῖς περὶ φορᾶς καὶ ἀφορίας πλαζο-
μένων καὶ δεδιότων: ἀνίδρυτοι γὰρ at γεωπόνων
φροντίδες, ἄχρις ἂν οἱ καρποὶ συγκομισθῶσι, διὰ
τὰς ἐφέδρους ἀπὸ μυρίων ὅσων ἀνθρώπων τε καὶ
θρεμμάτων ζημίας.

21{ Ταῦτα ἐπὶ πλέον ἐμήκυνα διὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ἑβδόμην
ἐπιδείξασθαι βουλόμενος, ὅτι πάσας τὰς ἐτησίους
ἑορτὰς συμβέβηκεν ὡς ἂν ἀπογόνους ἑβδομάδος
εἶναι μητρὸς λόγον ἐχούσης, * * *
ἀφροσύναι καὶ εὐφροσύναι, καὶ διότι ἐν πανηγύρεσι
καὶ ἱλαρῷ βίῳ τέρψεις ἀμέτοχοι συννοίας καὶ κατ-
ηφείας συνίστανται σώματα καὶ ψυχὰς ἀναχέουσαι,

A \ 92 a ¢ ὃ ’ὔ AY δὲ ~ λ a
τὰ μὲν" τῷ ἁβροδιαίτῳ, Tas δὲ τῷ φιλοσοφεῖν.

215 XXXIV. Ἔστι δέ τις παρὰ ταύτας ἑορτὴ μὲν

” e ’ δὲϑ ᾽ὔ “a λ ~ ce / λ 33
οὔ, ἑορτώδης δὲ" πανήγυρις, ἣν καλοῦσι “᾿ κάρταλον
ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος, ὡς μικρὸν ὕστερον ἀπο-
δείξομεν. τὸ μὲν οὖν μὴ ἑορτῆς ἔχειν ἀξίωμα καὶ

1 With λόγον ἐχούσης Nicetas’s excerpts come to an end,
and the rest of the treatise depends solely on M and does not
appear in Mangey at all. For the lacuna Heinemann
suggests something like the following: “‘ <but it is prescribed
that people should enjoy themselves at the feasts”’ (Lev.
xxiii. 40 and elsewhere) ‘‘ because> folly and joy <are irrecon-
cilable opposites>.’’ It is certainly quite possible that some
lost clause or clauses ended up with «ἐναντία» ἀφροσύναι καὶ
εὐφροσύναι (cf. the same antithesis in § 49), but the rest of
Heinemann’s suggestion does not seem to me suitable.
Apart from these three words, which may have intruded
through some now inexplicable accident, the whole section
reads like a continuous apology for the length at which the
fourth commandment is treated compared with the third and
fifth, the defence being (1) the sanctity of seven (διὰ τὴν iepav

ἑβδόμην) ; (2) the intrinsic value of the feasts (καὶ διότι ἐν .. . )
If something has really been lost I should rather suppose

4.4.0

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 213-215

seems to have more stability and fixity, because the

people have now received their returns from the

land and are no longer perplexed and terrified by

doubts as to its fertility or barrenness. For the.
anxious thoughts of the husbandman are never

settled till the crops are gathered in, so numberless

are the men and animals from whom they are liable

to suffer harm.

All this long exposition is due to my regard for the 214
sacred seventh day, and my wish to shew that all
the yearly feasts prove to be as it were the children
of that number which stands as a mother . . . scenes
of folly andjoy . . . and because the festal assemblies
and the cheerful life which they afford bring delights
that are free from all anxiety and dejection, and
spread exhilaration both in the body and in the soul,
in the body by the comfortable way of living, in the
soul by the study of philosophy.

XXXIV. *But besides these we have what is not a 215
feast, but is a general ceremony of a festal character
called the Basket, a name which describes what takes
place, as we shall shortly shew.? That it has not the
prestige and standing of a feast is clear for many

« Here Cohn begins a fresh numeration of chapters. See

Gen. Introd. p. xviii.
δ See Deut. xxvi. 1-11. Cf. De Som. ii. 272.

that it continued μητρὸς λόγον ἐχούσης with ‘‘to those who
feast’’ (or ‘‘to feasts conducted ”’) ‘‘ religiously, and not with
folly, for folly and joy are incompatible.’’ This certainly
presupposes that Nicetas had the same corruption before
him as we have, but I know no reason to the contrary.

2 MS. τοῖς μὲν. Ϊ

3 MS. ἑορτὴ μὲν θεοῦ ἑορτῆς, which Cohn prints as <ody>
ἑορτὴ μὲν θεοῦ, ἑορτῆς δὲ <ovyyevis>. The text adopted here
is that suggested by Heinemann (partly from Holwerda).
For ἑορτώδης cf. § 216.

441

PHILO

τάξιν δῆλον ἐκ πολλῶν: οὔτε yap τοῦ ἔθνους ἐστὶν
ὡς πάνδημος, οἵα τῶν ἄλλων ἕκάστη, οὔτε τι τῶν
προσαγομένων ἢ προσφερομένων ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν
᾿ καθαγιάζεται παραδιδόμενον τῷ ἀσβέστῳ πυρὶ
καὶ ἱερῷ, οὐθ᾽ ἡμερῶν ἀριθμὸς ὃν χρὴ (ταύτην)
216 ἑορτάζειν εἴρηται. XXXV. τὸ δ᾽ ἑορτώδη τύπον
ἔχειν καὶ ἐγγὺς ἵστασθαι' πανηγυρικῆς ἰδέας"
εὐμαρῶς κατίδοι τις ἄν. ἕκαστος γὰρ τῶν ἀγροὺς
καὶ κτήσεις ἐχόντων ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστου τῶν ἀκροδρύων
εἴδους ἀγγεῖα πληρώσας, καθάπερ ἔφην, ἃ προσ-
αγορεύουσι καρτάλους, ἀπαρχὴν τὴς εὐκαρπίας
εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν κομίζει γεγηθὼς καὶ στὰς ἀντικρὺ
τοῦ βωμοῦ δίδωσι τῷ ἱερεῖ, τὸ πάγκαλον καὶ
θαυμάσιον ᾷσμα διεξιών, εἰ δὲ μὴ τύχοι μεμνη-
μένος, ἀκούων παρὰ τοῦ ἱερέως μετὰ προσοχῆς
217 πάσης. ἔστι δὲ τοιόνδε dopa: “᾿ Συρίαν ἀπέβαλον"
οὗ ἀρχηγέται τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν καὶ μετανέστησαν
εἰς Αἴγυπτον. ὀλίγος ὄντες ἀριθμὸς ηὐξήθησαν
εἰς πλῆθος ἔθνους. οἱ ἀπόγονοι μυρία κακωθέντες
ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων, οὐδεμιᾶς ἔτι φαινομένης ἐξ
ἀνθρώπων ἐπικουρίας, ἐγένοντο θεοῦ ἱκέται κατα-
218 φυγόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ βοήθειαν. προδεξά-
μενος τὴν ἱκεσίαν ὁ πᾶσι τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις εὐμενὴς
τοὺς μὲν ἐπιτιθεμένους κατέπληξε σημείοις καὶ
τέρασι καὶ φάσμασι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅσα κατ᾽
ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἐθαυματουργεῖτο, τοὺς δ᾽
ἐπηρεαζομένους καὶ πάσας ὑπομένοντας ἐπιβουλὰς
ἐρρύσατο, οὐ μόνον εἰς ἐλευθερίαν ἐξελόμενος,

1 ms. ἑστιᾶσθαι.
2 ms. ἀδείας, which Cohn retains, though suggesting ἰδέας.

442

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 215-218

reasons. For it does not affect the nation as a united
whole like each of the others, nor do we find any
victim being brought or led to the altar and then
sacrificed and given over to be consumed by the
sacred and unquenchable fire, nor is there any specified
number of days during which the feast is to last.
XXXV. But that it has a festal character and nearly 216
approaches the form of a general ceremony ὦ can be
easily seen. For every person who possesses farms
or landed estates takes some of every kind of fruit
and fills receptacles which, as I have said, are called
baskets, and brings them with joy as a sample offer-
ing of his rich fruit-harvest, to the temple, and there
standing opposite the altar, gives them to the priest.
Meanwhile he recites this beautiful and admirable
canticle, or if he does not remember it, he listens
with all attention while the priest repeats it. The 217
sense of this canticle is as follows : ‘‘ The founders of
our race abandoned Syria and migrated to Egypt
and, though few in number, increased to a populous
nation. Their descendants suffered wrongs without
number from the inhabitants, and when no further
assistance from men appeared forthcoming, became
suppliants of God and sought refuge in His help. He 218
Who is kindly to all the wronged accepted their
supplication and confounded their assailants with
signs and wonders and portents and all the other
marvels that were wrought at that time, and saved
the victims of outrage who were suffering all that
malice could devise, and not only brought them forth

¢ Presumably because though there is no general assembly
everybody has to do it at some time.

It is difficult to see what ἀδεία can mean in connexion with
the ceremony here described. 3 MS. ἀπέβαλλον.

448

219

220

22]

222

228

PHILO

ἀλλὰ Kal χώραν πάμφορον δούς. ἀπὸ τῶν ταύτης
καρπῶν, εὐεργέτα, σοὶ φέρομεν τὴν ἀπαρχήν, εἰ
δὴ θέμις εἰπεῖν ἐστι κομίζειν τὸν λαμβάνοντα: σαὶ
γάρ, ὦ δέσποτα, χάριτες καὶ δωρεαὶ τὰ πάντα,
ὧν ἀξιωθέντες ἐναβρυνόμεθα καὶ ἐνευφραινόμεθα
τοῖς ἀπροσδοκήτοις ἀγαθοῖς, ἅπερ οὐκ ἐλπίσασιν
ἡμῖν ἔδωκας.᾽" XXXVI. TO Gopa τοῦτο σχεδὸν
ἀπὸ θέρους ἐνισταμένου μέχρι μετοπώρου λήγοντος
ἀδιαστάτως ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρων καὶ ἑτέρων ἄδεται δυσὶ
καιροῖς, ὁλοκλήρῳ μέρει ἡμίσει τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, διὰ
τὸ μὴ πάντας ἀθρόους κατὰ ῥητὴν προθεσμίαν τὰ
ὡραῖα δύνασθαι κομίζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄλλοτε ἄλλους, ἔστι
δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν χωρίων.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῶν καρπῶν οἱ μὲν θᾶττον οἱ δὲ βραδύ-
τερον πεπαίνονται, καὶ διὰ τὰς τῶν τόπων διαφορὰς
ἀλεεινοτέρων ἢ κρυμωδεστέρων ὄντων καὶ διὰ
μυρίας ἄλλας αἰτίας, εἰκότως ἀόριστός ἐστι καὶ
ἀπερίγραφος ὁ ὁ χρόνος τῆς τῶν «ἀκροδρύων a ἀπαρχῆς
ἐπὶ μήκιστον ἐκτεινόμενος. ἡ δὲ τούτων χρῆσις
\ \

ἐπιτέτραπται τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, ἐπεὶ γῆς μὲν ἀποτομὴν
οὐκ ἔλαχον οὐδὲ προσοδευομένας κτήσεις, κλῆροι
δ᾽ εἰσὶν αὐτοῖς αἱ παρὰ τοῦ ἔθνους ἀπαρχαὶ ἀντὶ
τῶν λειτουργιῶν, ἃς μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ
e 4
ὑπομένουσι.

XXXVI. Τοσαῦτα μὲν περὶ ἑβδομάδος καὶ τῶν
εἰς αὐτὴν ἀναφερομένων ἔν τε ἡμέραις καὶ μησὶ
καὶ ἐνιαυτοῖς καὶ περὶ ἑορτῶν, al συγγένειαν ἔχουσι

1 Cohn, followed by Heinemann, proposes either to strike
out avrods, or read κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς {χρόνους τοὺς». See
note a.

α See note 1. The second of these suggestions, which is
what Heinemann actually translates, seems to me quite

44.4

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 218-223

into freedom, but gave them a land fertile in every

way. Of the fruits of this land we present a sample 219

offering to Thee, our Benefactor, if indeed we may
speak of presenting that which we receive. For all
these things, good Master, are Thy boons and gifts,
and as Thou hast judged us worthy of them, we
take pride and delight in the unexpected blessings
which Thou hast given us beyond all our hopes.”
XXXVI. This canticle is used continually by a
succession of worshippers from early summer to late
autumn, through the two seasons which constitute a
complete half of the year. For the whole population
cannot in a body bring the fruits of the season at a
fixed time, but must do so at different times, and this
may even be the case with the same persons coming

from the same places.* For since some of the fruits 221

ripen more quickly than others, both because of the
difference of the situation which may be warmer or
colder, and for a multitude of other reasons, natur-
ally the time when this sample of the fruits is due
cannot be exactly defined or limited, but extends

over a very considerable period. These offerings 222

are assigned for the use of the priests, because they
have no territory allotted to them, nor property which
brings them income, and their heritage consists of
the offerings of the nation in return for the religious
duties imposed upon them by night and day.

XXXVII. I have now completed the discussion of 223

the number seven and of matters connected with
days and months and years that have reference to
that number, and also of the feasts which are associ-
pointless. I understand the text to mean that the same
growers may find their fruits ripening at different times in

different years. This of course in itself would prevent a
fixed date for the ceremony.

4.45

PHILO

πρὸς ἑβδομάδα, διεξῆλθον ἕπόμενος εἱρμῷ τῶν
προκειμένων κεφαλαίων κατὰ τὴν ἐν λόγοις
ἀκολουθίαν. ἐπισκέψομαι δ᾽ ἑξῆς τὸ ἐπόμενον, ὃ
περὶ γονέων ἀναγέγραπται τιμῆς.

224 XXXVITT. Terrapa εἴδη “πρότερον ὑπειπών, ἃ
καὶ τῇ τάξει καὶ τῇ δυνάμει πρῶτα ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς,
τό τε περὶ μοναρχίας ἢ μοναρχεῖται ὁ κόσμος, καὶ
τὸ περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ μίμημα
δημιουργεῖν θεοῦ, καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ψευδορκεῖν

᾿ἢἣ συνόλως μάτην ὀμνύναι, καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς
ἑβδόμης, ἅπερ σύμπαντα τείνει πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ
ὁσιότητα, μέτειμι ἐπὶ τὸ πέμπτον τὸ περὶ γονέων
τιμῆς, ὅ, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίᾳ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγοις

225 ἔδειξα, μεθόριον ἀνθρωπείων τε καὶ θείων. ot γὰρ
γονεῖς μεταξὺ θείας καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεώς εἰσι
μετέχοντες ἀμφοῖν' ἀνθρωπίνης μέν, ὡς ἔστι δῆλον,
ὅτι καὶ γεγόνασι καὶ φθαρήσονται, θείας δ᾽ ὅτι
γεγεννήκασι καὶ τὰ μὴ ὄντα εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήγαγον'
ὅπερ γάρ, οἶμαι, θεὸς πρὸς κόσμον, τοῦτο πρὸς
τέκνα γονεῖς, ἐπειδὴ ὡς ἐκεῖνος τῷ μὴ ὑπάρχοντι
ὕπαρξιν κατειργάσατο, καὶ οὗτοι μιμούμενοι καθ᾽
ὅσον οἷόν τε τὴν ἐκείνου δύναμιν τὸ γένος ἀθανα-

996 τίζουσιν. ΧΧΧΙΧ. ἄξιοι δ᾽ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο μόνον
τιμῆς πατήρ τε καὶ μήτηρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι᾿ ἕτερα
πλείω. παρ᾽ οἷς γὰρ λόγος ἀρετῆς ἐστί, πρεσβύ-
τεροι νεωτέρων προκρίνονται καὶ διδάσκαλοι γνωρί-
μων καὶ εὐεργέται τῶν εὖ πεπονθότων καὶ ἄρχοντες

227 ὑπηκόων καὶ δεσπόται δούλων. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ
ἀμείνονι τάξει κρίνονται γονεῖς, πρεσβύτεροι γάρ

* Here begins the fifth commandment. Again a fresh

numeration of chapters in Cohn.
» 2,6. De Dec. 106-120.

446

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 223-227

ated with it. In this I have followed the order of
the principal heads set before us as the sequence of
the subjects demanded. I now proceed to the next
head, in which we find recorded a statement of the
honour due to parents.

XXXVIII. *In my previous remarks I havesketched 224
the four divisions which both in order and importance
stand undoubtedly first. They comprise the asser-
tion of the absolute sovereignty by which the universe
is governed, the prohibition against making any
image or likeness of God and against perjury or vain
swearing in general and the doctrine of the sacred
seventh day, all of them tending to promote piety
and religion. I now proceed to the fifth, which states
the duty of honouring parents, a matter which, as I
have shewn in the discussion devoted to this in par-
ticular,® stands on the border-line between the human
and the divine. For parents are midway between 225
the natures of God and man, and partake of both ;
the human obviously because they have been born
and will perish, the divine because they have brought
others to the birth and have raised not-being into
being. Parents, in my opinion, are to their children
what God is to the world, since just as He achieved
existence for the non-existent, so they in imitation
of His power, as far as they are capable, immortalize
the race. XXXIX. And a father and mother de- 226
serve honour, not only on this account, but for many
other reasons. For in the judgement of those who
take account of virtue, seniors are placed above
juniors, teachers above pupils, benefactors above
beneficiaries, rulers above subjects, and masters
above servants. Now parents are assigned a place 297
in the higher of these two orders, for they are seniors

447

228

229

290

PHILO

9 A A
εἰσι καὶ ὑφηγηταὶ Kal εὐεργέται καὶ ἄρχοντες Kal
’ὔ A

δεσπόται, ev δὲ TH ἐλάττονι υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες,

νεώτεροι γὰρ καὶ μαθηταὶ καὶ εὖ πεπονθότες

e , 4 A ~ e 9 9 A

ὑπήκοοί τε Kat δοῦλοι. ὡς δ᾽ οὐδὲν
ὔ ὔ A ~ ‘4

τούτων κατέψευσται, δῆλον μὲν ἐκ τῆς evapyetas':
e 9 9 ’ὔ ’ὔ ” A 9 ~

at δ᾽ ἐκ λόγου πίστεις ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐπισφραγιοῦνται
A 9 7 ᾽ὔ ’ [2 A “A

τὴν ἀλήθειαν. XL. λέγω τοίνυν, ὅτι τὸ ποιοῦν

τοῦ γινομένου καὶ τὸ αἴτιον οὗπέρ ἐστιν αἴτιον ἀεὶ

’ e
πρεσβύτερόν ἐστιν: οἱ δὲ γεννήσαντες αἴτιοι Kal
’ “- ’
ἡμιουργοὶ τρόπον τινὰ τῶν γεννηθέντων εἰσί:
e A Va

Kal ob μὲν ὑφηγητῶν ἔχουσι τάξιν, ὅσαπερ ἂν

εἰδότες τυγχάνωσι τοὺς παῖδας ἐκ πρώτης ἀνα-
᾽ e ’ὔ

διδάξαντες ἡλικίας, καὶ οὐ μόνον τὰ περὶ τὰς

9 , 9 A A ’

ἐπιστήμας ἀσκοῦσι καὶ νεάζουσιν ἐναποματ-
/ \ 9 , , 2 5 \ \

τόμενοι λογισμοὺς ἀκμάζουσι Traidwv,? ἀλλὰ καὶ

3 ’ A e U4

τὰ ἀναγκαιότατα τῶν πρὸς αἱρέσεις καὶ φυγάς,

αἱρέσεις μὲν ἀρετῶν, φυγὰς δὲ κακιῶν καὶ τῶν

κατ᾽ αὐτὰς ἐνεργειῶν. εὐεργέται μέντοι

τίνες ἂν elev μᾶλλον ἢ παίδων γονεῖς, ot καὶ μὴ

9 4 Ss “-
ὄντας εἰργάσαντο" καὶ αὖθις τροφῆς ἠξίωσαν καὶ
A A A V4
μετὰ ταῦτα παιδείας τῆς κατά τε σῶμα Kal ψυχήν,
[καὶ] ἵνα μὴ μόνον ζῶσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὖ ζῶσι; τὸ

1 MS. ἐνεργείας.

2 The text here is well-nigh hopeless, and Cohn’s treatment
of it in Hermes, 1908, p. 202, is unsatisfactory. He places
ἀσκοῦσι καὶ vedfovow in brackets (which I have removed) as
glosses (surely odd glosses) to ἀκμάζουσι, and apparently
takes the next words as = "impressing thoughts on those of the
children who are in their prime’ ” (so also Heinemann). But
this use of ἀκμάζουσι παίδων for τοῖς ἀκμάζουσι τῶν παίδων,
which he himself says is “‘ scarcely correct,’? seems to me
impossible. F or a tentative suggestion see App. pp. 628-629.

3 1 suggest μὴ ὄντας <dvras> εἰργάσαντο. See note ὃ.

448

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 227-230

and instructors and benefactors and rulers and
masters : sons and daughters are placed in the lower
order, for they are juniors and learners and recipients

of benefits and subjects and servants.

That none of these statements is false is self-evident,
but logical proofs will ratify their truth still further.
XL. I say, then, that the maker is always senior to the 228
thing made and the cause to its effect, and the be-
getters are in a sense the causes and the creators of
what they beget. They are also in the position of
instructors because they impart to their children
from their earliest years everything that they them-
selves may happen to know, and give them instruc-
tion not only in the various branches of knowledge
which they impress upon their young minds,? but
also on the most essential questions of what to choose
and avoid, namely, to choose virtues and avoid vices
and the activities to which they lead.

Further, who could be more truly called benefactors 229
than parents in relation to their children ? First, they
have brought them out of non-existence;? then,
again, they have held them entitled to nurture and
later to education of body and soul, so that they
may have not only life, but a good life. They have 230

¢ The translation does not do more than give the general
sense. See note 2.

> Or “‘ brought them out of non-existence into existence.”
See note 8. As the words stand in the text they should mean
““made them to be non-existent,’’ for ἐργάζομαι does not
appear to be used absolutely =“ create.’’ On the other hand,
ἐργάζεσθαί τινά 7.=“* to render a person something ’’ (adjective)
is a known construction used by Philo, e.g. De Agr. 58
tov λαὸν. . . φιλήδονον. . . ἐργάσηται, cf. Quod Deus 43,
De Sac. 48. If corrected as suggested, the phrase “‘ made
non-existent persons existent’ is quite parallel to τὰ μὴ ὄντα
eis τὸ εἶναι παρήγαγον in § 225 and elsewhere.

VOL. VII 2G 449

231

PHILO

μὲν οὖν σῶμα διὰ τῆς γυμναστικῆς καὶ ἀλειπτικῆς
ὠφέλησαν εἰς εὐτονίαν τε καὶ εὐεξίαν σχέσεις τε
καὶ κινήσεις εὐμαρεῖς, οὐκ ἄνευ ῥυθμοῦ καὶ τοῦ
πρέποντος, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν διά τε γραμμάτων καὶ
ἀριθμῶν γεωμετρίας τε καὶ μουσικῆς καὶ τῆς
συμπάσης φιλοσοφίας, ἣ τὸν νοῦν εἰσῳκισμένον
’ 3)
νητῷ σώματι μετέωρον alpovoa παραπέμπει
μέχρις οὐρανοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ μακαρίας καὶ
εὐδαίμονας φύσεις ἐπιδείκνυται, ᾿ζῆλον ἅμα καὶ
πόθον ἐνεργαζομένη τῆς ἀτρέπτου καὶ ἐναρμονίου
τάξεως, ἣν οὐδέποτε λείπουσι πειθόμεναι τῷ
ταξιάρχῳ. πρὸς δὲ ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις καὶ
τὴν ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἐγέννησαν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβον, οὐχ ὥσπερ
ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι κατὰ κλῆρον ἢ χειροτονίαν, ὡς
αἰτιᾶσθαι δύνασθαι τὸν μὲν ὀλίσθῳ τύχης γενό-
μενον, οὐ σὺν λογισμῷ, τὴν δὲ ὄχλου, πράγματος

ἀνεξετάστου καὶ ἀνεπισκέπτου, φορᾷ, γνώμῃ δὲ

51 \
ἀρίστῃ καὶ 7 τελειοτάτῃ τῆς ἄνω φύσεως, Wy καὶ τὰ
θεῖα καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα σὺν δίκῃ πρυτανεύεται.

232 XLI. διὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἔξεστι τοῖς πατράσι καὶ κακηγορεῖν"

[πρὸς] τοὺς παῖδας καὶ ἐμβριθέστερον νουθετεῖν
Kai, εἰ μὴ ταῖς δι᾿ ἀκοῶν ἀπειλαῖς ὑπείκουσι,
τύπτειν καὶ προπηλακίζειν καὶ καταδεῖν. ἂν
μέντοι γε καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ἀφηνιάζωσι τῇ ῥύμῃ τῆς
ἀνιάτου μοχθηρίας ἀπαυχενίζοντες, ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ
νόμος καὶ μέχρι θανάτου κολάζειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκέτι

1 MS. ἧ. 2 MS. κατηγορεῖν.

¢ Including the lower instruction in reading and wr iting
and the higher i in literature, called respectively γραμματιστική
and γραμματική, De Cong. 148.

> i.e. perhaps by ene them to degrading tasks. Heine-

450

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 230-232

benefited the body by means of the gymnasium and
the training there given, through which it gains
muscular vigour and good condition and the power.
to bear itself and move with an ease marked by
gracefulness and elegance. They have done the
same for the soul by means of letters? and arithmetic
and geometry and music and philosophy as a whole
which lifts on high the mind lodged within the
mortal body and escorts it to the very heaven and
shews it the blessed and happy beings that dwell
therein, and creates in it an eager longing for the
unswerving ever-harmonious order which they never
forsake because they obey their captain and marshal.
But in addition to the benefits they 231

confer, parents have also received authority over
their offspring. That authority is not obtained by
lot nor voting as it is in the cities, where it may be
alleged that the lot is due to a blunder of fortune
in which reason has no place, and the voting to
the impetuosity of the mob, always so reckless and
devoid of circumspection, but is awarded by the most
admirable and perfect judgement of nature above
us which governs with justice things both human
and divine. XLI. And therefore fathers have the 232
right to upbraid their children and admonish them
* severely and if they do not submit to threats con-
veyed in words to beat and degrade them ὃ and put
them in bonds. And further if in the face of this they
continue to rebel, and carried away by their incor-
rigible depravity refuse the yoke, the law permits
the parents to extend the punishment to death,
though here it requires more than the father alone or

mann aptly quotes Plato, Laws 866 © προπηλακισθέντες λόγοις
ἢ καὶ ἀτίμοις ἔργοις.

451

PHILO

μόνῳ πατρὶ ἣ “μόνῃ μητρί, διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς
τιμωρίας, ἣν οὐκ ἄξιον ὑφ᾽ ἑνὸς ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀμφοῖν
δικασθῆναι" -συμφρονῆσαι γὰρ οὐκ εἰκὸς ἐπ᾽
ἀναιρέσει τοῦ παιδὸς ἑκάτερον τῶν γονέων, μὴ
βαρυνόντων καὶ καθελκόντων τῶν ἀδικημάτων
ὁλκῇ τινι βεβαίῳ νικώσῃ τὴν ἐκ φύσεως ἐν-

238 ιδρυμένην πάγιον εὔνοιαν. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀρχὴν
μόνον καὶ ἡγεμονίαν τὴν ἐπὶ τέκνοις ἀλλὰ καὶ
δεσποτείαν γονεῖς ἔλαχον κατ᾽ ἄμφω τὰς ἀνωτάτω
θεραπόντων κτήσεως ἰδέας, τήν τε ἐπ᾽ οἰκότριψι
καὶ ἀργυρωνήτοις" πολυπλασίους τε γὰρ τῆς ἀξίας
τιμὰς κατατιθέασιν εἴς τε παῖδας καὶ ὑπὲρ παίδων
τιτθαῖς καὶ παιδαγωγοῖς καὶ διδασκάλοις, δίχα τῶν
εἰς ἐσθῆτας καὶ τροφὰς καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐπιμέλειαν
ὑγιαινόντων τε καὶ καμνόντων. ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας
μέχρι τελείας" οἰκότριβές τε ἂν εἶεν οἱ μὴ μόνον
οἴκοι γεννηθέντες ἀλλὰ καὶ [ot] ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς οἰκίας
εσποτῶν συνεισενεγκάντων τὰ πρὸς γένεσιν
φύσεως θεσμοῖς εἰσφορὰν ἀναγκαίαν.

234 XLII. τοσούτων οὖν ὑπαρχόντων ἄξιον (ἐπαίνου)
μὲν οὐδὲν δρῶσιν οἱ τιμῶντες {τοὺς γονεῖς,
ἐπεὶ καὶ ἕν τι τῶν εἰρημένων αὐταρκέστατον εἰς
σεβασμὸν αὐτοὺς “προκαλέσασθαι, ψόγου δὲ καὶ
κατηγορίας καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω δίκης οἱ μήθ᾽ ὡς
πρεσβυτέρους αἰδούμενοι μήθ᾽ ὡς ὑφηγητὰς ἀπο-
δεχόμενοι. μήθ᾽ ὡς εὐεργέτας ἀμοιβῆς ἀξιοῦντες
μήθ᾽ ὡς ἄρχουσι πειθαρχοῦντες μήθ᾽ ὡς δεσπότας

235 εὐλαβούμενοι. πατέρα, οὖν φησι, μετὰ θεὸν καὶ

1 MS. τιμῆς.

@ See Deut. xxi. 18-21. Philo’s language suggests a more
independent action on the part of the parents than Deutero-
nomy. See App. p. 629.

452

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 232-235

the mother alone.* So great a penalty should be the
sentence, not only of one of them but of both. For
it is not to be expected that both the parents would
agree to the execution of their son unless the weight
of his offences depressed the scale strongly enough
to overcome the affection which nature has firmly
established in them. But parents have 233
not only been given the right of exercising authority
over their children, but the power of a master corres-
ponding to the two primary? forms under which
servants are owned, one when they are home-bred,
the other when they are purchased. For parents
pay out a sum many times the value of a slave on
their children and for them to nurses, tutors and
teachers, apart from the cost of their clothes, food
and superintendence in sickness and health from
their earliest years until they are full grown. “‘ Home-
bred τ᾿ too must they be who are not only born in the
house but through the masters of the house, who have
made the contribution enforced by the statutes of
nature in giving them birth.° XLII. With 234
all these facts before them, they do not do any-
thing deserving of praise who honour their parents,
since any one of the considerations mentioned is in
itself quite a sufficient call to shew reverence. And
on the contrary, they deserve blame and obloquy and
extreme punishment who do not respect them as
seniors nor listen to them as instructors nor feel the
duty of requiting them as benefactors nor obey them
as rulers nor fear them as masters. Honour there- 235
fore, he says, next to God thy father and thy mother,

» See on 8 82.
ὁ Does this imply that the οἰκότριβες were assessed in
determining the εἰσφορά, as ἀργυρώνητοι naturally would be?

453

286

237

238

239

PHILO

μητέρα τίμα δευτερείοις τοῖς yépacw avadov-
μένους, ἅπερ ἡ φύσις ἀπένειμεν αὐτοῖς ἀθλο-
θετοῦσα. τιμήσεις δ᾽ [ἐπ᾽ οὐδενὶ μᾶλλον ἢ
πειρώμενος ἀγαθός τε εἶναι καὶ δοκεῖν εἶναι, ὧν
τὸ μὲν τὴν ἄτυφον καὶ ἄπλαστον ἀρετὴν ἐπιζητεῖ,
τὸ δὲ τὴν σὺν ὑπολήψει χρηστῇ καὶ τῷ παρὰ τῶν
συνόντων ἐπαίΐνῳὄΡλἩ μικρὰ γὰρ τῶν ἰδίων φρον-
τίζοντες ὠφελειῶν τέλος εὐδαιμονίας νομίζουσι
τὴν τῶν παίδων καλοκἀγαθίαν, δι’ ἣν καὶ τοῖς
προσταττομένοις θελήσουσιν ὑπακούειν ἐκεῖνοι καὶ
ἐν ἅπασι καταπειθεῖς εἶναι τοῖς δικαίοις καὶ συμ-
φέρουσιν: οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀλλότριον ἀρετῆς ὁ ταῖς
ἀληθείαις ὑφηγήσεται πατὴρ παιδί.

XLITI. Τεκμηριώσαιτο δ᾽ ἄν τις τὴν πρὸς γονεῖς
εὐσέβειαν οὐ “μόνον ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων, ἀλλὰ κἀκ
τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἥλικας ἐκείνων ἀποδοχῆς." ὁ γὰρ
πρεσβύτην καὶ πρεσβύτιδα οὐδὲν γένει προσήκοντας
αἰδούμενος ἔοικέ πως ὑπομιμνήσκεσθαι πατρός τε
καὶ μητρὸς καὶ ἀποβλέπων ὥσπερ εἰς ἀρχέτυπα
τεθηπέναι" τὰς εἰκόνας ἐκείνων. ὅθεν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς
γράμμασιν οὐ μόνον προεδρίας ἐξίστασθαι διείρηται
νέους πρεσβύταις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παριοῦσιν ὑπανίστα-
σθαι πολιὰν γήρως αἰδουμένους, εἰς ὅπερ ἐλπὶς ἀφ-
ἱκέσθαι τοὺς προνομίας τοῦτ᾽ ἀξιοῦντας. παγκάλως
δέ μοι κἀκεῖνο νενομοθετῆσθαι δοκεῖ" φησὶ γάρ'
‘ ἕκαστος πατέρα τε ἑαυτοῦ καὶ μητέρα φοβείσθω,᾽

1 Cohn suspects the wording and conjectures ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας
«ἐρῶν», but the form has already occurred and been accepted
in i, 97 and De Ios. 38.

2 MS. ἀποχῆς. 3 MS. τεθεικέναι.

@ See Lev. xix. 32, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary
head, and honour the face of the old man.’’ The txx has

454

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 235-239

who are crowned with a laurel of the second rank
assigned to them by nature, the arbitress of the con-
test. And in no way wilt thou honour them as well
as by trying both to be good and to seem good, to be
good by seeking virtue simple and unfeigned, to
seem good by seeking it accompanied by a reputation
for worth and the praise of those around you. For 236
parents have little thought for their own personal
interests and find the consummation of happiness in
the high excellence of their children, and to gain
this the children will be willing to hearken to their
commands and to obey them in everything that is
just and profitable ; for the true father will give no
instruction to his son that is foreign to virtue.

XLIII. But the proof of filial piety may be given 237
not only in the ways above mentioned, but also by
courtesy shewn to persons who share the seniority of
the parents. One who pays respect to an aged man
or woman who is not of his kin may be regarded as
having remembrance of his father and mother. He
looks to them as prototypes and stands in awe of
those who bear their image. And therefore in the 238
Holy Scriptures the young are commanded not only
to yield the chief seats to the aged but also to give
place to them as they pass,” in reverence for the grey
hairs that mark the age to which they may hope to
attain who judge it worthy of precedence. Admirable 239
too, as it seems to me, is that other ordinance where
he says, “‘Let each fear his father and mother.” ®

ἀπὸ προσώπου πολιοῦ ἐξαναστήσῃ, which Philo might easily
take to mean “ rise up away from,” 7.e. make room for him.
He need not be supposed to be claiming scriptural authority
for yielding the chief seats, but mentions it as the universally
accepted mark of respect.

> See Lev. xix. 3.

4.55

240

24]

PHILO

4 A 9 ’ θ ’ 9 e A
φόβον πρὸ εὐνοίας τιθείς, οὐχ ὡς πρὸς ἅπαν
ἄμεινον, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πρὸς τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν χρησι-
μώτερόν τε καὶ λυσιτελέστερον. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ
τοῖς παιδευομένοις καὶ νουθετουμένοις ἄφροσιν
εἶναι συμβέβηκεν" ἀφροσύνη δ᾽ οὐκ ἄλλῳ ἢ φόβῳ
εραπεύεται: δεύτερον δ᾽ ἁρμόττον οὐκ ἦν νομο-
θέτου παραγγέλμασι τοὺς παῖδας εὔνοιαν διδά-
A Δ
σκεσθαι τὴν πρὸς γονεῖς, ἣν αὐτοκέλευστον ἡ
4 Aa Aa ~
φύσις ἐξ ἔτι σπαργάνων [δέ]; ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν
/
οὕτως ἡνωμένων κατὰ γένος ἐνιδρύσατο. διὸ
φιλίαν μὲν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς γεννήσαντας ὡς αὐτομαθῆ
καὶ αὐτοδίδακτον καὶ προστάξεως οὐ δεομένην
> 7 , \ , \ \ > ,
ἀπέλιπε, φόβον δὲ προστάττει διὰ τοὺς εἰωθότας
e θ aA 3 δ A A τὸ ς λλ 4
ῥᾳθυμεῖν: ἐπειδὴ yap γονεῖς παῖδας ὑπερβαλλούσῃ
χρώμενοι φιλοστοργίᾳ περιέπουσι καὶ πάντοθεν
3 A > /
ἐκπορίζοντες αὐτοῖς τἀγαθὰ χαρίζονται μηδένα
4 \ 4 aA
πόνον ἢ κίνδυνον ὑπερτιθέμενοι, δυνάμεσιν ὁλκοῖς
’ 4 A
εὐνοίας" συνδεδεμένοι, TO λίαν φιλόστοργον αὐτῶν
3 4 4 9 9 3 λ ’ \ A λ A
οὐ δέχονταί τινες em ὠφελείᾳ, τρυφὴν καὶ χλιδὴν
3 4 A 4 A . e A 4
ἐζηλωκότες Kat θαυμάζοντες μὲν τὸν ὑγρὸν βίον,
“A v4
διαρρέοντες δὲ κατά TE σῶμα Kat ψυχήν, Kal
4 “A A A 4
μηδὲν μέρος ἐῶντες ὀρθοῦσθαι ταῖς οἰκείαις duva-
μεσιν, ἃς ὑποσκελίζοντες καὶ ἐκνευρίζοντες οὐκ
ἐρυθριῶσιν ἕνεκα τοῦ μὴ δεδιέναι τοὺς σωφρο-
A 4 > 4 ᾿
νιστὰς πατέρας καὶ μητέρας, ἐνδιδόντες καὶ
3 “- aA 90. , > ’ 9 A \
ἐπιχαλῶντες ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιθυμίαις. ἀλλὰ καὶ
τούτοις ἀναγκαῖον παραινεῖν, ὅπως εὐτονωτέραις
’ὔ
καὶ ἐμβριθεστέραις χρώμενοι νουθεσίαις θερα-
4 “A , e a A A 4
πεύσωσι τὸν τῶν παίδων ῥοῦν, καὶ τοῖς παισίν,

1 ms. ἐξαιτεῖ σπαργάνων δὲ. 2 MS. ὅρκοις εὐνοίαις.

456

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 239-241

Here he sets fear before affection, not as better in
every way, but as more serviceable and profitable for
the occasion which he has before him. For in the
first place, persons subject to instruction and admoni-
tion are in fact wanting in sense, and want of sense
is only cured by fear. Secondly, it would not be
suitable to include in the enactments of a lawgiver
an instruction on the duty of filial affection, for nature
has implanted this as an imperative instinct from the
very cradle in the souls of those who are thus united
by kinship. And therefore he omitted any mention 240
of love for parents because it is learned and taught
by instinct and requires no injunction, but did
enjoin fear for the sake of those who are in the
habit of neglecting their duty. For when parents
cherish their children with extreme tenderness, pro-
viding them with good gifts from every quarter and
shunning no toil or danger because they are fast bound
to them by the magnetic forces of affection, there are
some who do not receive this exceeding tender-
heartedness in a way that profits them. They pursue
eagerly luxury and voluptuousness, they applaud the
dissolute life, they run to waste both in body and soul,
and suffer no part of either to be kept erect by its
proper faculties which they lay prostrate and para-
lyzed without a blush because they have never feared
the censors they possess in their fathers and mothers
but give in to and indulge their own lusts. But these 241
parents also must be exhorted to employ more active
and severe admonitions to cure the wastage of their
children, and the children also that they may stand

a See App. p. 629.
457

PHILO

Ψ λ “-- \ 4 1 ὃ ὃ ’ \
ὅπως εὐλαβῶνται τοὺς yewapevous’ δεδιότες καὶ
ὡς ἄρχοντας καὶ ὡς φύσει δεσπότας" μόλις γὰρ
οὕτως ἀδικεῖν ὀκνήσουσι.
242 XLIV. Τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ τὴν προτέραν δέλτον
7 A ,
πέντε κεφάλαια νόμων καὶ ὅσα τῶν κατὰ μέρος
3 Ὁ 3 ’ A 3 \ “-
εἰς ἕκαστον ἐλάμβανε τὴν ἀναφορὰν διεξῆλθον.
’ ~
χρὴ δὲ Kal τὰς ὁρισθείσας ἐπὶ TH τούτων παρα-
243 βάσει τιμωρίας δηλῶσαι. κοινὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστι
2 ἃ
κατὰ πάντων θάνατος, δι᾽ ἣν" ἔχει τἀδικήματα πρὸς
3 V4 > + \ “- ’ lA
ἄλληλα συγγένειαν. αἰτίαι δὲ τῆς δίκης διάφοροι.
ἀρκτέον δ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ τελευταίου τοῦ πρὸς γονεῖς,
> \ \ \ 9 “- / ” 37 ’
ἐπειδὴ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος ἔναυλος. ἐάν, φησί,
δ
τις τυπτήσῃ πατέρα ἢ μητέρα, καταλευέσθω"
πάνυ δικαίως" οὐ γὰρ θέμις ζῆν τῷ προπηλακίζοντι
A A , 3 » ~
244 τοὺς τοῦ ζῆν αἰτίους. ἀλλ᾽ ἔνιοι τῶν εὐπαρύφων
\ ~ A 4 9 4 ~ wv \
Kal νομοθετῶν πρὸς δόξας ἀπιδόντες μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν
/ ~ ςό »,
ἀλήθειαν ἐκομψεύσαντο κατὰ πατροτυπτῶν ὁρί-
σαντες χειρῶν ἀποκοπήν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ παρὰ τοῖς
on ,
εἰκαιοτέροις καὶ ἀνεξετάστοις εὐδοκιμῆσαι νομί-
ζουσιν ἁρμόττον εἶναι τὰ μέρη οἷς ἐτύπτησαν τοὺς
945 γονεῖς ἀκρωτηριάζεσθαι. ἔστι δ᾽ εὔηθες τοῖς ὑπ-
NPETHKOGL πρὸ τῶν αἰτίων δυσχεραίνειν, τὴν γὰρ
1 So Holwerda for ms. τοὺς γινομένους, for which Cohn

conjectured τοὺς {τοῦ ζῆν αἰτίους» γενομένους.
2 ms. δι᾿ ὃν ᾿

_ 6. See Ex. xxi. 15, “‘ Let him be surely put to death” (xxx
θανάτῳ θανατούσθω). Philo quotes it in De Fuga 83 with
τελευτάτω. As stoning is the common form of execution in
he. Pentateuch and is definitely mentioned as the method to
e used in the case of the disobedient son, the discrepancy is
not remarkable.

458

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 241-245

in awe of those who begot them, fearing them both
as rulers and masters. For only so, and that hardly,
will they shrink from wrongdoing.

XLIV. I have now discussed the five heads of the 242
laws belonging to the first table, and all the par-
ticular enactments which may be classed under each
of the five. But I must also state the penalties
decreed for transgression of them. The result of 243
the close affinity which the offences have to each
other is that they all have a common punishment, :
namely, death, but there are different reasons for
this punishment. We should begin with the last
commandment, on the behaviour due to parents,
since our discussion of it is fresh in our minds. He
says “if anyone strikes his father or mother, let him
be stoned.’’* This is quite just, for justice forbids
that he should live who maltreats the authors of his
life. But some dignitaries and legislators who had 244
an eye to men’s opinions rather than to truth, have
decreed that striking a father should be punished
by cutting off the hands, a specious refinement? due
to their wish to win the approval of the more careless
or thoughtless, who think that the parts with which
the offenders have struck their parents should be
amputated.* But it is silly to visit displeasure on the 245
servants rather than on the actual authors, for the

> The common meaning of κομψεύω as applied to clever or
subtle words and actions (Heinemann, “in spitzfindiger
Weise’’), cf. De Mig. 75, does not fit in well with the next
words, which represent the practice as a concession to the
thoughtless. The feeling expressed in it may be either that
the officials disguise their real feelings or that the course
adopted is less coarse and drastic than capital punishment,
or perhaps a combination of both these.

¢ On the evidence for the existence of this law see App.
pp. 629-630.

459

246

247

248

PHILO

ὕβριν od χεῖρες ἀλλὰ διὰ χειρῶν ὑβρισταὶ δρῶσιν,
οὗς ἀναγκαῖον κολάζειν: εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς ἀνδρο-
φονήσαντας ξίφει μεθετέον ὑπερόριον τὸ ξίφος
ῥίψαντας, καὶ τοὐναντίον τοῖς ἀριστεύσασιν ἐν
πολέμῳ τιμὰς οὐ δοτέον, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀψύχοις παν-
τευχίαις, δι’ ὧν ἠνδραγαθίσαντο: μὴ καὶ τῶν ἐν
γυμνικοῖς ἀγῶσι στάδιον ἣ δίαυλον ἢἣ δόλιχον
νενικηκότων ἢ πυγμὴν ἢ παγκράτιον σκέλη καὶ
χεῖρας αὐτὸ μόνον' ταινιοῦν ἐπιχειρήσουσιν ὅλα τὰ
σώματα τῶν ἀθλητῶν παρέντες; γέλως μέντ᾽ ἂν
εἴη τὰ τοιαῦτ᾽ εἰσηγεῖσθαι, (Ta) ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ
κολάζοντας ἢ τιμῶντας, δέον τοὺς αἰτίους" οὐδὲ
γὰρ μουσικὴν ἐπιδεικνύμενόν τινα du αὐλῶν ἢ
λύρας καὶ σφόδρα κατορθοῦντα παραμειψάμενοι τὰ
ὄργανα κηρυγμάτων καὶ τιμῶν ἀξιοῦμεν. τί οὖν
ἔδει -πατροτύπτας, ὦ γενναῖοι νομοθέται, χειρο-
κοπεῖν; ἢ ἵνα πρὸς τῷ εἶναι μηδὲν χρήσιμοι τὸ
παράπαν καὶ δασμὸν οὐκ ἐτήσιον ἀλλ᾽ ἐφήμερον
ἀναπράττωσι παρὰ τῶν ἠδικημένων τροφὰς ἀναγ-
καίας ἅτε πορίζειν ἀδυνατοῦντες; οὐ γὰρ σιδήρειος
πατήρ ἐστί τις οὕτως, ὡς λιμῷ περιϊδεῖν θνήσκοντα
υἱόν, καὶ ταῦτα χρόνῳ τῆς ὀργῆς ἀμαυρουμένης.
κἀν μὴ ἐπενέγκῃ μέντοι χεῖρας, κακηγορῇ δ᾽ ots
χρέος ἀναγκαῖον εὐφημεῖν 1 ἢ καὶ τρόπῳ é ἑτέρῳ δρᾷ
τι τῶν ἐπ᾽ ἀτιμίᾳ γονέων, θνησκέτω" κοινὸς γὰρ

1 Ms. αὐτῶν μόνον.

4“ See Ex. xxi. 16 (17), Lev. xx. 9, E.V. “curseth,” but
R.V. margin “ or revileth.”’ In the latter half of the sentence
he perhaps alludes to Deut. xxvii. 16, ‘Cursed be he that
setteth light by (Lxx ἀτιμάζων) his father or his mother.”

460

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 245-248

outrage is not committed by the hands but by the
persons who used their hands to commit it, and it is
these persons who must be punished. Otherwise,
when one man has killed another with a sword, we
should cast the sword out of the land and let the
murderer go free, and conversely, honour should be
given, not to those who have distinguished them-
selves in war, but to the lifeless equipments and
weapons which were the instruments of their exploits.
In the case of the victors in the athletic contests, 246
whether at the single or the double course or the long
race or the boxing or the general contest, will they
try to garland the legs and hands only and disregard
the bodies of the athletes as a whole? It would
surely be ridiculous to introduce such practices and
give to the indispensable accompaniments the punish-
ments or honours. which should be given to the
responsible persons. [For similarly, in musical ex-
hibitions, when anyone makes a highly successful
performance on the flute or lyre, we do not pass
him by and adjudge the laudatory announcements
and honours to the instruments. Why then, you 247
grand legislators, should we cut off the hands of those
who strike a father? Or is your object that the
offenders, besides being quite useless, may levy a
tribute not annually, but daily, on those whom they
have wronged, because they are unable to provide
the sustenance they need. For no father is so iron-
hearted as to allow his son to starve to death, par-
ticularly as his anger grows faint as time goes on.
And even if while making no assault with his hands 248
he uses abusive language to those to whom good words
are owed as a bounden duty, or in any other way does
anything to dishonour his parents, let him die. He

461

PHILO

9 A ’ > aA 3 \ 3 aA Va e /
ἐχθρὸς καί, εἰ Set τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, δήμιος ἁπάντων"
ἐπεὶ τίνι γένοιτ᾽ ἂν εὐμενὴς ἄλλῳ ὁ μηδὲ τοῖς
αἰτίοις τοῦ ζῆν, du’ οὗς εἰς γένεσιν ἦλθεν, ὧν ἐστι
προσθήκη;

24 ΧΙ. Πάλιν δ᾽ ὁ τὴν ἱερὰν ἑβδόμην βέβηλον
ἀποφήνας τὸ γ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἧκον μέρος ὑπόδικος
ἔστω θανάτου. τοὐναντίον γὰρ τοῖς βεβήλοις καὶ
πράγμασι καὶ σώμασι καθαρσίων εὐπορητέον εἰς τὴν
ἀμείνω μεταβολήν, ἐπειδὴ * ‘ φθόνος,᾽᾽ ὡς ἔφη τις,

“ἔξω θείου χοροῦ βαίνει. τὸ δὲ τολμᾶν τὰ καθ-
ὠσιωμένα παρακόπτειν καὶ παραχαράττειν ὑπερ-

260 βάλλουσαν. ἀσέβειαν ἐμφαίνει. κατὰ τὴν παλαιὰν
ἐκείνην ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετανάστασιν ἡνίκα δι᾽
ἐρήμης atpiBots ἅπασα ἡ πληθὺς ὡδοιπόρει,
γενομένης ἑβδόμης" ai μὲν τοσαῦται μυριάδες, ὅσας
ἐδήλωσα πρότερον, ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς κατὰ πολλὴν
ἡσυχίαν διέτριβον, εἷς δ᾽ οὐχὶ τῶν ἠμελημένων καὶ
ἀφανῶν ὀλίγα φροντίσας τῶν διατεταγμένων καὶ
χλευάσας τοὺς φυλάττοντας ἐξήει μὲν ἐπὶ φρυ-

961 γανισμόν, ἔργῳ δ᾽ εἰς παρανομίας ἐπίδειξιν. καὶ

ὁ μὲν ὑπέστρεφεν ἀγκαλίδα ἀγαγών, οἱ δὲ τῶν

1 MS. ἐπὶ. 2 MS. ἑβδομάδος.

@ See Ex. xxxi. 14, 15.

> See note on Quis Rerum 242.

¢ Plato, Phaedrus 247 a, a quotation again made in Quod
Omnis Probus 13, and with many echoes elsewhere, ¢.g.
i. 320. See note on De Fuga 62.

4 See Num. xv. 32-36. Cf. Mos. ii. 213 ff. 6 8146.

f Heinemann, ignoring οὐχί, translates *‘ one of the obscure
and little esteemed,’ and adds in a note that Philo has
inferred his insignificance either from his collecting firewood,
or from the absence of any mention of his name. If this is
not mere inadvertence, he must have considered that οὐχί
should be expunged. But his explanations of the man δ

462

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 248-251

is the common and indeed the national enemy of all.
For who could find kindness from him who is not kind
even to the authors of his life, through whom he has
come into existence and to whom he is but a supple-
ment ὃ

XLV. Again, let him who has turned the sacred 249
seventh day into a profane thing, as far as lies in his
power, be sentenced to death. For on the contrary
we ought to be rich in ways of purifying things pro-
fane, both material and immaterial,’ to change them
for the better, since, as it has been said, ‘‘ envy has
no place in the divine choir.”’® But to dare to debase
and deface the stamp of things consecrated shews
the utmost height of impiety. There is an incident 250
which occurred during the great migration from
Egypt in ancient days while the whole multitude was
journeying through the pathless wilderness.¢ The
seventh day had come, and all those myriads, how
numerous I have stated in an earlier place,’ were
staying very quietly in their tents, when a single
person of a rank by no means mean or insignificant,’
regardless of the orders given and mocking at those
who maintained them, went out to gather firewood,
but actually succeeded’ in displaying his disobedi-
ence to the law. He returned bringing an armful, 251

insignificance are very unconvincing, and, as the mss. of
Philo do not shew as much tendency to insert negatives as
they do to omit them, the text may stand, though I know
of no explanation of Philo’s statement that the offender was
of high rank.

9 Or “ with the result that he displayed.”” This is perhaps
an unusual meaning for εἰς. Heinemann gives “ with the
intention of shewing,”’ but this would need ἐξήει λόγῳ μέν
rather than ἐξήει μέν. He says that the same motive is
suggested in § 213 of the parallel account, but misinterprets,
[ think, the sense of the phrase used there. See my note.

463

252

258

PHILO

σκηνῶν ἐκχυθέντες, καίτοι παρατεθηγμένοι, vew-
τερον οὐδὲν ἕνεκα τοῦ περὶ τὴν ἡμέραν ἱεροπρεποῦς
εἰργάσαντο, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἄρχοντα ἀγαγόντες τὸ
> 4 4 e 9 3 e A > 4

ἀσέβημα μηνύουσιν" ὁ δ᾽ εἰς εἱρκτὴν ἀποθέμενος,
ἐκπεσόντος λογίου καταλεύειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐκ-
δίδωσι τοῖς πρῶτον θεασαμένοις εἰς ἀπώλειαν.

e , A 9 yg ε , 9 9
ὡς γάρ, οἶμαι, πῦρ ἐναύειν' ἑβδόμαις οὐκ ἐπι-

4 3 a 4 > »
τέτραπται---δι᾿ ἣν πρόσθεν αἰτίαν εἶπον---, οὕτως

90" \ \ 9 ’ 4
οὐδὲ τὰ πυρὸς ἐκκαύματα συλλέγειν.

XLVI. Τοῖς μάρτυρα καλοῦσιν ἐπὶ μὴ ἀληθεῖ
θεὸν ὥρισται δίκη θανάτου: προσηκόντως: οὐδὲ
γὰρ ἄνθρωπος τῶν μετρίων ἀνέξεταί ποτε παρα-
κληθεὶς συνεπιγράψασθαι ψεύδεσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐχθρὸν
ἄπιστον ὑπολαβεῖν dv μοι δοκεῖ τὸν εἰς ταῦτα

; :
προτρέποντα. ὅθεν ῥητέον: τὸν ὀμνύντα μάτην
9 9 9ς » A e \ , 4 wv ~
ἐπ᾿ ἀδίκῳ θεὸς ὁ τὴν φύσιν ἵλεως οὔποτε τῆς
> » 3 ’ ’ \ \ ov
αἰτίας ἀπαλλάξει δυσκάθαρτον Kat μιαρὸν ὄντα,

a , \ > 9 9 , ἢ
κἂν διαφύγῃ τὰς ἀπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων τιμωρίας. δια-

’ > 50 4 Ν 4 \ Ψ \
δράσεται δ᾽ οὐδέποτε" μυρίοι yap ἔφοροι, ζηλωταὶ

, , ~ ’ 9 4 A
νόμων, φύλακες τῶν πατρίων ἀκριβέστατοι, {τοῖς

1 ms. ἐκκαυθέντες. 2 MS. ev δυοῖν.

@ In the parallel account persons who have gone out to
pray in the wilderness catch the Sabbath-breaker in the act.
As Heinemann points out, we have in the two accounts two
different answers to the question how they discovered the
crime when they should have been staying in the tents.

® In Numbers “all the congregation.”’ |

6 2,6. in § 65.

464

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 251-253

but the others, pouring out from the tents,* though
greatly enraged if repelled from violence on account
of the sanctity of the day, took him to the ruler
and reported the impious deed. The ruler put him
in custody, but when the divine pronouncement
had been given out that he should be stoned, he
surrendered him to those who had first seen him?
to be done to death. For the prohibition against
lighting a fire on the seventh day, the reason for
which I have stated earlier,“ applies equally, I
presume, to collecting the means for kindling fire.
XLVI. For persons who call God to witness to an 252

untruth, death is the appointed punishment, quite
rightly. For not even a man, if he is of a decent sort,
will tolerate an invitation to join in subscribing to an
untruth, but would in my opinion regard anyone who
urged him to this course as an enemy unfit to be
trusted. And therefore we must declare that God, 253
though His nature is to be merciful, will never free
from guilt him who swears falsely’ to an injustice, a
miscreant almost beyond possibility of purification,
even if he evades the chastisements of men. And
these he will never escape ; for there are thousands
who have their eyes upon him full of zeal for the laws,
strictest guardians of the ancestral institutions,

@ Philo has no scriptural authority for death as a punish-
ment for breaking the third commandment, which he here
confines to perjury, and indeed this was recognized in § 27.
His argument, as appears in. ὃ 254, is that the sentence of
death for the lighter shews that it must have been intended
for the heavier offence.

ὁ Not, I think, “lightly,” “‘ thoughtlessly,”’ as Heinemann
(‘‘ leichtfertig ’’). The sense of “ falsely ’’ is not uncommon in
classical Greek. Philo uses μάτην to bring it into connexion
with the ἐπὶ ματαίῳ of the commandment, and to suggest
that perjury is included in “‘ taking in vain.”

VOL. VII 2H 465

PHILO

ἐπὶ katadvce' τι δρῶσιν ἀμειλίκτως ἔχοντες" εἰ μὴ
ἄρα ἐπὶ μὲν ἀτιμίᾳ πατρὸς Ἵ μητρὸς φονᾶν" ἄξιον,
ἐπὶ δ᾽ ὀνόματι τῷ καὶ αὐτῆς εὐκλεεστέρῳ σεμ-
νότητος ὑπ᾽ ἀσεβῶν ἀτιμουμένῳ μετριώτερον
254 οἰστέον. ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ οὕτως ἐστί τίς ἀνόητος, ὡς
ἕνεκα τῶν ἐλαττόνων κτείνων τοὺς αἰτίους ἐπὶ
τοῖς μείζοσιν ἐᾶν: μεῖζον δ᾽ ἀσέβημα τοῦ πρὸς
γονεῖς κακηγορουμένους" καὶ ὑβριζομένους τὸ περὶ
τὴν ἱερὰν πρόσρησιν θεοῦ γενόμενον ἐκ ψευδορκίας.
255 Ei δὲ 6 μὴ προσηκόντως ὀμνὺς ὑπαίτιος, πόσης
ἄξιος τιμωρίας 6 τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν ἀρνούμενος
καὶ τοὺς γεγονότας πρὸ τοῦ πεποιηκότος τιμῶν
καὶ μὴ μόνον γῆν ἢ ὕδωρ ἢ ἀέρα ἢ πῦρ, τὰ στοιχεῖα
τοῦ παντός, ἣ πάλιν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ πλάνητας
καὶ ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας ἢ τὸν σύμπαντα οὐρανόν
τε καὶ κόσμον σέβειν ἀξιῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα θνητοὶ
δημιουργοὶ κατεσκεύασαν ξύλα καὶ λίθους, ἅπερ
256 εἰς ἀνθρωποειδεῖς τύπους ἐμορφώθη; τοιγάρτοι
καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξομοιούσθω τοῖς χειροκμήτοις" θέμις
γὰρ μὴ μετέχειν ψυχῆς τὸν τὰ ἄψυχα τιμήσαντα,
καὶ μάλιστα φοιτητὴν γενόμενον Μωυσέως, οὗ
πολλάκις ἤκουσε λέγοντός τε καὶ προφητεύοντος
τὰς ἱερωτάτας καὶ καταθέους ἐκείνας ὑφηγήσεις"

1s. ἀκριβέστεροι ἐπὶ καταλεύσει. Cohn’s emendation of
καταλεύσει tO καταλύσει, $c. τῶν πατρίων, is certain. For the
rest he suggested ἀκριβέστατοι .(ἐπὶ τοῖς» ἐπὶ καταλύσει. The
form here adopted (see Grégoire, Hermes, 1909, p. 313), or
possibly «τοῖς ta@v>, seems preferable.

2 Ms. φόνον.

3 MS. κατηγορουμένους.

@ Philo seems to take as his authority for the death sentence

466

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 253-256

merciless to those who do anything to subvert them.
Otherwise we must suppose that while it is right to
seek the death of one who dishonours a father or a
mother, more moderation should be shewn when
impious men dishonour the name which is more
glorious than majesty itself. Yet none is so foolish 254
as to visit the lesser offences with death and spare
those who are guilty of the greater ; and the sacrilege
involved in reviling or outraging parents is not so
great as that committed by perjury against the
sacred title of God.

But if he who swears a wrongful oath is guilty, how 255
great a punishment? does he deserve who denies
the truly existing God and honours created beings
before their Maker, and thinks fit to revere, not only
earth or water or air or fire, the elements of the
All, or again the sun and moon and planets and fixed
stars, or the whole heaven and universe, but also the
works of mortal craftsmen, stocks and stones, which
they have fashioned into human shape? And there- 256
fore let him too himself be made like unto these works
ofmen’shands. Foritis right that he who honours life-
less things should have no partin life, especially if he has
become a disciple of Moses and has often heard from
his prophetic? lips those most holy and'godly instruc-

on the breach of the first commandment Deut. xvii. 2-5,
where the false gods are described in much the same way as
here, and on breaches of the second Ps. exv. 8, where
instead of the A.V. “they that make them are like unto
them ᾽ the txx has ὅμοιοι γένοιντο, ‘‘ may they become like.”
> Lit. “ both speaking and prophesying,” meaning perhaps
that though it is Moses speaking he is also God’s spokesman,
or that sometimes he speaks in his own person and sometimes
as the spokesman. The words that follow, though primarily
reproducing Ex. xxiii. 13, are, as ‘‘ often’ shews, intended to

represent Moses’ teaching elsewhere.
467

257

258

259

PHILO

ὄνομα θεῶν ἑτέρων μήτε τῇ ψυχῇ παραδέξῃ εἰς
ὑπόμνησιν μήτε φωνῇ διερμηνεύσῃς, ἀλλ᾽ ἑκάτερον,
νοῦν καὶ λόγον, μακρὰν τῶν ἄλλων διαζεύξας
ἐπίστρεψον πρὸς τὸν πατέρα καὶ , ποιητὴν τῶν
ὅλων, ἵνα καὶ φρονῇς περὶ μοναρχίας τὰ ἄριστα
καὶ κάλλιστα καὶ λέγῃς τὰ πρέποντα καὶ λυσι-
τελέστατα σαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς ἀκουσομένοις.

XLVII. Αἱ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τῶν παραβαινόντων
τοὺς πέντε χρησμοὺς τιμωρίαι δεδήλωνται. τὰ
δὲ προκείμενα τοῖς φυλάττουσιν αὐτοὺς ἄθλα, καὶ
εἰ μὴ ῥηταῖς προστάξεσι μεμήνυκεν ὁ νόμος, ἀλλά
τοι δι᾽ ὑπονοίας ἐμφαίνεται. τὸ μὲν οὖν μὴ νομί-
ζειν θεοὺς ἑτέρους μηδὲ χειρόκμητα θεοπλαστεῖν
μηδὲ ψευδορκεῖν ἑτέρου γέρως χρεῖον οὐκ ἔστιν"
αὐτὸ γάρ, οἶμαι, τὸ ταῦτα ἐπιτηδεύειν ἄριστον καὶ
τελεώτατόν ἐστι γέρας" ἐπὶ τίνι γὰρ δύναιτ᾽ ἂν
τις ἡσθῆναι μᾶλλον ἀληθείας ἐρῶν ἢ τῷ ἑνὶ
προσκεῖσθαι θεῷ καὶ τῆς τούτου θεραπείας ἀδόλως
καὶ καθαρῶς περιέχεσθαι; καλῶ δὲ μάρτυρας,
οὐχ οἵτινες θεραπεύουσι τῦφον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀπλανῆ
ζῆλον ἐζηλωκότας, παρ᾽ οἷς ἀλήθεια τιμᾶται: φρο-
νήσεώς τε γὰρ ἄθλον αὐτὴ ἡ φρόνησις καὶ δικαιο-
σύνη καὶ ἑκάστη τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἑαυτῆς ἐστι
γέρας. ἡ δ᾽ ὥσπερ ἐν χορῷ καλλιστεύουσα καὶ
κατάρχουσα πασῶν ὁσιότης, πολὺ πλέον ἐστὶν
ἑαυτῆς καὶ ἀγώνισμα καὶ ἄθλον, παρέχουσα καὶ
τοῖς χρωμένοις εὐδαιμονίαν καὶ τοῖς τούτων παισὶ
καὶ ἐγγόνοις εὐπραγίας ἀναφαιρέτους.

260 XLVIII. πάλιν γε μὴν τοῖς τὴν ἱερὰν ἑβδόμην

e 4
1 MS. ὁσιοτήτων.

@ ixx, Ex. xxiii. 13, ἀναμνήσεσθε, E.V.*‘ make no mention,”
which may have been intended by the Greek translator.

468

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 256-260

tions, ‘‘ Do not admit the name of other gods into thy
soul to remember it,” nor give expression to it with
thy voice. Keep both thy mind and thy speech far
apart from these others, and turn to the Father and
Maker of all, that thy conceptions of His sole sover-
eignty may be the best and the noblest, and thy
words such as are suitable and most profitable to
thyself and to them that shall hear thee.” 257
XLVII. We have now explained the punishments
inflicted on those who transgress the five oracles.
But the guerdons awaiting those who keep them,
even if not stated by the law in actual words of the 258
injunctions, yet may be seen to underlie them. The
refusal to acknowledge other gods, or to deify the
works of men’s hands, or to commit perjury, needs
no other reward. For surely the practice of such
abstinence is in itself the best and most perfect
reward. Forwhere can any lover of truth find greater
pleasure than by devoting himself to the one God
and embracing his service in guilelessness and 259
purity ? I call to witness not such as serve vanity
but those who are inspired with a zeal which never
goes astray, those among whom truth is honoured.
For wisdom is itself the guerdon of wisdom, and justice
and each of the other virtues is its own reward.°
And much more is she, who as in a choir is the fairest
and the queen of the dance—religion “—her own
prize and guerdon, providing happiness to those
who cherish her and to their children and children’s
children blessings of welfare which can never be 260
taken from them. XLVIII. Again, the
experience of those who keep the seventh day is that

δ See App. p. 630.
¢ Or “ holiness.”’

469

PHILO

φυλάττουσι συμβαίνει περὶ δύο τὰ ἀναγκαιότατα
ὠφελεῖσθαι, σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν, τὸ μὲν ἀναπαύλαις
ἐκ τῶν συνεχῶν καὶ ἀτρύτων πόνων, τὴν δ᾽
ὑπολήψεσιν ἀρίσταις περὶ θεοῦ ὡς κοσμοποιοῦ καὶ
ἐπιμελουμένου ὧν ἐγέννησε: καὶ (yap) τὰ σύμ-

παντα ἐτελεσφόρησεν ἑβδομάδι. δῆλον οὖν ἐκ
τούτων, ὅτι τὴν ἑ ὅμην τιμῶν αὐτὸς εὑρίσκεται
261 τιμήν. ὁμοίως μέντοι καὶ ὁ τοὺς γονεῖς

ἀποδεχόμενος μὴ θηράσθω τι πλέον" εὑρήσει γὰρ
σκοπῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἔργῳ τὸ ἄθλον. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾽
ἐπειδὴ τῶν προτέρων τεσσάρων κεφαλαίων, ἃ
θειοτέρας ἔλαχε μοίρας, ἔλαττον τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ διὰ τὸ
θνητῶν ἐφάπτεσθαι, παρηγόρησεν εἰπών" " τίμα
πατέρα καὶ μητέρα, ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἵνα

262 μακροχρόνιος γένῃ," δύο γέρα τιθείς" ὲν μὲν
μετουσίαν ἀρετῆς, τὸ γὰρ εὖ ἡ ἀρετὴ ἢ οὐκ ἄνευ
ἀρετῆς, ἕτερον δέ, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἀθανασίαν
διὰ πολυχρονίου ζωῆς καὶ βίου μακραίωνος, ὃν καὶ
μετὰ σώματος θρέψεις ψυχῇ κεκαθαρμένῃ τελείᾳ
καθάρσει βιῶν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀποχρώντως λέ-
λεκται, τὰ δ᾽ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ δέλτῳ μετὰ ταῦτα
καιροῦ διδόντος ἐπισκεψόμεθα.

¢ For the same play on τιμή, “ honour,” and τιμή, “ value,”

cf. Quod Deus 169 f. us
δ Or “ when opportunity offers.” See on iii. 6 (App.).

470

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II. 260-262

both body and soul are benefited in two most essential
ways. The body is benefited by the recurrence of
respite from continuous and wearisome toil, the soul
by the excellent conceptions which it receives of God
as the world-maker and guardian of what He has be-
gotten. For He brought all things to their comple-
tion on the seventh day. These things shew clearly
that he who gives due value 5 to the seventh day gains

value2 for himself. So too indeed he who 261

shews respect to his parents should not seek anything
further, for if he look he will find his guerdon in the
action itself. However, since this commandment,
inasmuch as it is concerned with mortal things, is
inferior to the first four heads whose province is
nearer the divine, He gave encouragement with the
words, “‘ Honour thy father and thy mother, that it
may be well with thee and that thy time may be
long.” Here He names two rewards : one is the pos-
session of virtue, for “‘ well ” is virtue or cannot exist
without virtue, the other in very truth is salvation
from death given by prolonged vitality and agelong
life which thou wilt keep thriving even while in the
body, if thou live with a soul purged clean of all im-
purity.

This part of the subject has now been sufficiently
discussed. We will proceed in due season? to ex-
amine the contents of the second table.

47

262

INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS
LEGIBUS, III

This treatise opens with an impassioned lamentation over
the public business and troubles, which have debarred Philo
in the past from his beloved studies, and an expression of his
thankfulness that he now has some respite (1-5).

The Sixth (Lxx) Commandment. We begin with some
general thoughts on the need of continence even in marriage,
and the gravity of the crime of adultery (7-11). Intercourse
with a mother is mentioned with horror, and Philo traces to
this practice the troubles rife among the Persians (12-19).
But the law condemns no less marriage with a step-mother
(20-21), with a sister (22-25), and forbids it with others less
closely related, such as a wife’s sister (26-28), and with an
alien (29). It also strictly refuses to allow a woman who
has been divorced and then married another to return to her
first husband (31-31). There must be no intercourse during
menstruation (32-33), and Philo himself disapproves of
marriage with a woman known to be barren (34-36).

Graver matters are pederasty, popularly treated with a
favour which Philo deplores (37-42), and bestiality which
he illustrates with the story of Pasiphaé (48-50). A harlot,
too, is worthy of death (51).

Speaking of adultery itself, he gives a full account of the
test laid down in Numbers for the suspected wife (52-63).
The penalties for rape or seduction of a widow or maiden
are stated (64-71), and also for intercourse with a maiden
betrothed to another (72-78), and for slander by a husband
impugning the virginity of his bride (79-82).

The Seventh (sxx) Commandment. Murder is sacrilege
and deserves the utmost penalty (83-85), and attempted
murder is as bad (86-87). Murderers must not be allowed
sanctuary in the temple (88-91). While unpremeditated
homicide may be less heinous (92), no mercy must be shewn
to poisoners (93-99), and with them may be classed magicians,
though there is a higher magic (100-103). Returning to the
subject of unpremeditated homicide, as in a sudden quarrel,
he notes the law which enacted that if the sufferer did not

472

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III

die at once, his opponent would not suffer the extreme
penalty (104-107). From the law as stated in the xx, that
a miscarriage caused by a blow was a capital crime if the
child was fully formed (108-109), he draws the inference
that the exposure of infants is murder, and inveighs very
feelingly against the cruelty of the practice (110-119).

He then turns to the law which enables the involuntary
homicide to fly to the “Cities of Refuge.”’ He dwells on
the hint given in Exodus, that the death of the man thus
killed was divinely ordained, and suggests that these Levitical
Cities were privileged because of the conduct of the Levites
in slaughtering the calf-worshippers, which story he repeats
at length (120-129). In connexion with this he discusses the
meaning of the provision that the homicide must remain
there till the death of the high priest (130-136).

Next we have laws dealing with cases where death is
caused by a master beating a slave (137-143), or by a vicious
bull left unguarded (144-146), or a pit left uncovered (147-
148), or a roof left without a parapet (149).

The insistence of the law that murder must be punished
with death is emphasized by the order that the body is to be
prominently exhibited for a time (150-152).

No one is to suffer death as a substitute for the criminal,
and here he enlarges on the cruelty shewn in attempts to
extort taxes from the relatives of the debtors, and in laws
‘which inflict death on the families of political offenders
(153-168).

We now come to assaults not actually causing death. The
decree in Deuteronomy that the woman who makes an in-
decent assault is to lose her hand gives rise to reflections on
the modesty demanded of women (169-177), followed by an
allegorical interpretation of the law (178-180). Punishment
for violence must correspond with the crime (181-183). The
law of ‘‘an eye for an eye”’ leads to a disquisition on sight
as the channel of wisdom (184-191), and the eye as expressing
the phases of the mind (192-194), though the law is modified
in the case of a slave. Similarly ‘a tooth for a tooth”? is
justified by the indispensability of the teeth for maintaining
life (195-204).

In conclusion he recurs to murder itself and argues that
by holding contact with a corpse to cause uncleanness, the
law shews its horror of the crime of taking life.

478

]
[299]

2

| Bi

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΩΝ ANA®EPOMENON EN EIJAEI
NOMQN ΕΙΣ AYO ΓΈΝΗ ΤΩΝ AEKA
AOTION, TO EKTON KAI TO EBAOMON,
TO KATA MOIXON KAI ΠΑΝΤΟΣ AKO-
AAXTOY KAI TO KATA ANAPO®ONON
KAI ΠΑΣΗΣ BIAX

I. Ἦν ποτε χρόνος, ὅτε φιλοσοφίᾳ σχολάζων Kat
θεωρίᾳ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν καλὸν καὶ
περιπόθητον καὶ μακάριον ὄντως νοῦν' ἐκαρπούμην,
θείοις ἀεὶ λόγοις συγγινόμενος καὶ δόγμασιν, ὧν
ἀπλήστως καὶ ἀκορέστως ἔχων ἐνευφραινόμην,
οὐδὲν ταπεινὸν φρονῶν 7 xapailnrAov οὐδὲ περὶ
δόξαν 7 πλοῦτον ἢ ἢ τὰς σώματος εὐπαθείας ἰλυσπώ-
μενος, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνω μετάρσιος ἐδόκουν ἀεὶ φέρεσθαι
κατά τινα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιθειασμὸν καὶ συμπερι-
πολεῖν ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ σύμπαντι οὐρανῷ τε
καὶ κόσμῳ. τότε δὴ τότε διακύπτων ἄνωθεν ἀπ᾽
αἰθέρος καὶ τείνων ὥσπερ ἀπὸ σκοπιᾶς TO τῆς
διανοίας ὄμμα κατεθεώμην τὰς ἀμυθήτους θεωρίας
τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἁπάντων καὶ εὐδαιμόνιζον ἐμαυτὸν
ὡς ἀνὰ κράτος ἐκπεφευγότα τὰς ἐν τῷ θνητῷ βίῳ

1 Mangey βίον. See note a.

41 hardly think that νοῦν can be right. It is true that
Philo often uses νοῦς τῶν ὅλων Or νοῦς τοῦ παντός aS an

474

BOOK III

ON THE PARTICULAR LAWS WHICH COME UNDER TWO OF
THE TEN GENERAL COMMANDMENTS, NAMELY THE
SIXTH AGAINST ADUETERERS AND ALL LICENTIOUS-
NESS AND THE SEVENTH AGAINST MURDERERS AND
ALL VIOLENCE

I. There was a time when I had leisure for philo- 1
sophy and for the contemplation of the universe and
its contents, when I made its spirit * my own in all its
beauty and loveliness and true blessedness, when my
constant companions were divine themes and verities,
wherein I rejoiced with a joy that never cloyed or
sated. I had no base or abject thoughts nor grovelled®
in search of reputation or of wealth or bodily comforts,
but seemed always to be borne aloft into the heights
with a soul possessed by some God-sent inspiration,
a fellow-traveller with the sun and moon and the
whole heaven and universe. Ah then I gazed down 2
from the upper air, and straining the mind’s eye
beheld, as from some commanding peak, the multi-
tudinous world-wide spectacles of earthly things, and
blessed my lot in that I had escaped by main force
equivalent for God, 6.5. i. 18 above. But could he say
ἐκαρπούμην Oedv? For Mangey’s suggestion of βίον cf.
εὐδαίμονα βίον ἐδύναντο καρποῦσθαι, De Op. 156 and De

Som. ii. 74. |
> Or “ wallowed.”” More exactly “ wriggled”’; ¢f. De Dec.

149.
4.7

[300]

4

6

PHILO

ὃ κῆρας. | ἐφήδρευε δ᾽ dpa μοι τὸ κακῶν ἀργαλεώ-
τατον, ὁ ὁ μισόκαλος φθόνος, ὃς ἐξαπιναίως ἐ ἐπιπεσὼν
οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσατο καθέλκων πρὸς βίαν 7 με
καταβαλεῖν εἰς μέγα πέλαγος τῶν ἐν πολιτείᾳ
’ > a , 9Q> ὦ > VA ν
φροντίδων, ἐν ᾧ φορούμενος οὐδ᾽ ὅσον ἀνανήξασθαι
δύναμαι. στένων δ᾽ ὅμως ἀντέχω τὸν ἐκ πρώτης
ἡλικίας ἐνιδρυμένον τῇ ψυχῇ παιδείας ἵμερον ἔχων,
ὃς ἔλεόν μου καὶ οἶκτον ἀεὶ λαμβάνων ἀνεγείρει
‘ 9 ’ ᾿ “-- ” Ψ A \
καὶ ἀνακουφίζει. διὰ τοῦτον ἔστιν ὅτε τὴν κεφαλὴν
ἐπαίρω καὶ τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμασιν ἀμυδρῶς μὲν
--τὸ γὰρ ὀξυδερκὲςΣ αὐτῶν ἡ τῶν ἀλλοκότων
πραγμάτων ἀχλὺς ἐπεσκίασεν--- ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκαίως
γοῦν περιβλέπομαι τὰν κύκλῳ καθαρᾶς καὶ ἀμιγοῦς
κακῶν ζωῆς σπάσαι γλιχόμενος. εἰ δέ μοι καὶ
3 > VA A ’ 0, \ 4
ἐξ ἀπροσδοκήτου βραχεῖα γένοιτο εὐδία καὶ γαλήνη
θορύβων τῶν ἐν πολιτείᾳ, ὑπόπτερος ἐπικυματίζω
μόνον οὐκ ἀεροπορῶν, αὔραις τῆς ἐπιστήμης
καταπνεόμενος, 7m pe πολλάκις ἀναπείθει δραπε-
τεύειν συνημερεύσοντα αὐτῇ καθάπερ ἀπὸ δεσποτῶν
ἀμειλίκτων, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ πραγ-
4 9 ’ὔ 3 4 4 >
μάτων ἀλλαχόθεν ἄλλων χειμάρρου τρόπον ἐπ-
εισχεομένων. ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις θεῷ
προσῆκον εὐχαριστεῖν, ὅτι καίτοι κατακλυζόμενος
οὐκ ἐγκαταπίνομαι βύθιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς τῆς
ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμούς, οὗς ἀπογνώσει τινὸς χρηστῆς
ἐλπίδος φήθην' ἤδη πεπηρῶσθαι, διοίγω καὶ φωτὶ
τῷ σοφίας ἐναυγάζομαι μὴ πάντα τὸν βίον τῷ
σκότῳ παραδοθείς. ἰδού γέ τοι τολμῶ μὴ μόνον

1 mss. τινὲς. , . φήθησαν (Mangey φήθην av).

3 See App. p. 631.
476 | :

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 3-6

from the plagues of mortal life. But, as it proved, my 3
steps were dogged by the deadliest of mischiefs, the
hater of the good, envy, which suddenly set upon me
and ceased not to pull me down with violence till it
had plunged me in the ocean of civil cares,* in which
I am swept away, unable even to raise my head above
the water. Yet amid my groans I hold my own, for, 4
planted in my soul from my earliest days I keep the
yearning for culture which ever has pity and compas-
sion for me, lifts me up and relieves my pain. To
this I owe it that sometimes I raise my’ head and with
the soul’s eyes—dimly indeed because the mist of
extraneous affairs has clouded their clear vision—I
yet make shift® to look around me in my desire to
inhale a breath of life pure and unmixed with evil.
And if unexpectedly I obtain a spell of fine weather 5
and a calm from civil turmoils, I get me wings and ride
the waves and almost tread the lower air, wafted by
the breezes of knowledge which often urges me to
come to spend my days with her, a truant as it were
from merciless masters in the shape not only of men
but of affairs, which pour in upon me like a torrent
from different sides. Yet it is well for me to give 6
thanks to God even for this,° that though submerged
I am not sucked down into the depths, but can also
open the soul’s eyes, which in my despair of com-
forting hope I thought had now lost their sight, and
am irradiated by the light of wisdom, and am not
given over to lifelong darkness. So behold me

Ὁ For this idiomatic use of dvayxaiws=“‘ as best I can”’ see
note on Quod Det. 160.

© καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις is better taken as explained by ὅτι κτλ.
than as referring to the last sentence. The metaphor of the
open eye goes back to § 4. For this and for the general
sense of these sections see App. pp. 631-632.

ATT

PHILO

τοῖς tepois Μωυσέως ἑρμηνεύμασιν ἐντυγχάνειν,
ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλεπιστημόνως διακύπτειν εἰς ἕκαστον
καὶ ὅσα μὴ γνώριμα τοῖς πολλοῖς διαπτύττειν καὶ
ἀναφαΐίνειν.

11. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν δέκα λογίων, ἅπερ αὐτὸς
ἔχρησεν ὁ θεὸς ἄνευ προφήτου καὶ ἑρμηνέως,
πέντε μὲν εἴρηται τὰ χαραχθέντα ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ
δέλτῳ καὶ ὅσα τῶν κατὰ μέρος συνέτεινεν εἰς
ταῦτα, δεῖ δ᾽ ἐν τῷ παρόντι καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τὰ κατὰ
τὴν ἑτέραν δέλτον ὡς οἷόν τε ἄριστα συνυφῆναι,
πειράσομαι πάλιν Kal? ἕκαστον τῶν γενῶν ἐ

8 αρμόζειν τοὺς ἐν εἴδει νόμους. ἐν δὲ τῇ δευτέρᾳ
δέλτῳ πρῶτον γράμμα τοῦτ᾽ ἐστίν" “ οὐ μοι-
χεύσεις, ὅτι, οἶμαι, πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης
μέγα πνεῖ ἡ ἡδονὴ καὶ οὐδὲν μέρος τὴν δυναστείαν
αὐτῆς ἐκπέφευγεν, οὐ τῶν κατὰ γῆν, οὐ τῶν κατὰ
θάλατταν, οὐ τῶν ἐν ἀέρι" χερσαῖά τε γὰρ καὶ

[301] πτηνὰ καὶ ἔνυδρα πάντα διὰ πάντων τέθηπε | καὶ
περιέπει καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτάγμασιν αὐτῆς ὑπείκει πρός
τι βλέμμα καὶ νεῦμα ἀφορῶντα κἂν εἰ φρυάττοιτο
ὑπ᾽ ἀλαζονείας ἀσμενίζοντα καὶ μόνον οὐ φθάνοντα
τὰς προστάξεις ὀξύτητι καὶ ἀνυπερθέτῳ τάχει τῶν

9 ὑπηρεσιῶν. ἔχει μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν ἡδονὴ
πολλὴν καὶ πολλάκις μέμψιν, ὅταν ἀμέτρως καὶ
ἀκορέστως χρῆταί τις αὐτῇ, καθάπερ οἱ περὶ
ἐδωδὴν ἄπληστοι, κἂν εἰ μηδὲν τῶν ἀπαγορευο-
μένων προσφέροιντο, καὶ οἱ φιλογύναιοι συνουσίαις
ἐπιμεμηνότες καὶ λαγνίστερον ὁμιλοῦντες γυναιξὶν

10 οὐκ ἀλλοτρίαις ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἑαυτῶν. ἡ δὲ μέμψις
σώματός ἐστι μᾶλλον ἢ ψυχῆς κατὰ τοὺς πολλούς,

1 κατὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς is omitted by several mss.

478

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 6-10

daring, not only ‘to read the sacred messages of
Moses, but also in my love of knowledge to peer into
each of them and unfold and reveal what is not
known to the multitude.

II. Since out of the ten oracles which God gave 7
forth Himself without a spokesman or interpreter,
we have spoken of five, namely those graven on the
first table, and also of all the particular laws which
had reference to these, and our present duty is to
couple with them those of the second table as well as
we can, I will again endeavour to fit the special laws
into each of the heads. The first* commandment in 8
the second table is “ Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
It comes first, I think, because pleasure is a mighty
force felt throughout the whole inhabited world, no
part of which has escaped its domination, neither the
denizens of land nor of sea nor of the air, for in all
three elements beasts, fowls and fishes all alike treat
her with profound respect and deference and submit
to her orders, look to her every glance or nod, accept
contentedly even the caprices of her arrogance and
almost anticipate her commands, so promptly and
instantaneously do they hasten to render their ser-
vices. Now even natural pleasure is often greatly 9
to blame when the craving for it is immoderate and
insatiable, as for instance when it takes the form
of voracious gluttony, even though none of the food
taken is of the forbidden kind, or again the passionate
desire for women shewn by those who in their craze
for sexual intercourse behave unchastely, not with
the wives of others, but with their own. But the 10
blame in most of these cases rests less with the soul

¢ So txx in Ex. xx., though not in Deut. v. Cf. De
Dec. 121.

479

PHILO

πολλὴν μὲν ἔχοντος εἴσω φλόγα, x) τὴν παρα-

βληθεῖσαν τροφὴν ἐξαναλίσκουσα ἑτέραν οὐκ εἰς

μακρὰν ἐπιζητεῖ, πολλὴν δὲ ἰκμάδα, ἧς τὸ ῥοῶδες

διὰ τῶν γεννητικῶν ἀποχετεύεται κνησμοὺς καὶ

ὀδαξησμοὺς ἐμποιοῦν καὶ γαργαλισμοὺς ἀπαύστους.
\ \ 1 . » ν Ὁ»)

11 τοὺς δὲ [καὶ] γυναιξὶν ἄλλων καὶ ἔστιν
Lid 9 ’ \ , 9 ’ὔ \ > δ 4
ὅτε οἰκείων Kal φίλων ἐπιμεμηνότας καὶ ἐπὶ λύμῃ
τῶν πλησίον ζῶντας, ὅλα γένη πολυάνθρωπα
κιβδηλεύειν ἐπιχειροῦντας καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐπὶ γάμοις

9 \ V4 \ \ > 4 4 9 4
εὐχὰς παλιμφήμους τὰς δὲ ἐπὶ τέκνοις ἐλπίδας
ἀτελεῖς ἀπεργαζομένους, ἀνίατον νόσον ψυχῆς
νοσοῦντας, ὡς κοινοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἅπαντος ἀνθρώπων
γένους κολαστέον θανάτῳ, ὡς μήτε ζῶντες ἐν
3 ’ὔ ’ ’ με 4 4

ἀδείᾳ πλείους διαφθείροιεν οἴκους μήτε διδάσκαλοι
γένοιντο ἑτέρων, οἷς τὰ πονηρὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων
ζηλοῦν ἐπιμελές.

1 III. Εὖ μέντοι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ περὶ τὰς ὁμιλίας
e 4 ὃ 4 λ 4 \ 9 4 LAA ’

ὁ νόμος διετάξατο. κελεύει γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἀλλοτρίων
ἀπέχεσθαι γυναικῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ χηρευουσῶνϑ" αἷς οὐ
\ b 3 9 \ >

13 θέμις συνέρχεσθαι. τὸ Περσικὸν ἔθος εὐθὺς ἀπο-
στραφεὶς καὶ μυσαξάμενος ἀπεῖπεν ὡς μέγιστον
ἀνοσιούργημα: μητέρας γὰρ οἱ ἐν τέλει Ἰ]ερσῶν

1 have followed Heinemann against Cohn in expunging
καὶ. It is inserted by only one ms.

2 Cohn χηρευουσῶν {μητρυιῶν;», after which he places a
comma which is here expunged. See note 6.

α For the death penalty for adultery see Lev. xx. 10,
Deut. xxii. 22.

ὃ This list of prohibited unions follows, as Heinemann
notes, the order of Lev. xviii. Some of them appear also in
Lev. xx. and Deut. xxii.

¢ Or perhaps ““ women who have not a husband,” femmes
seules, thus including not merely mothers and stepmothers,

480

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 10-13

than with the body, which contains a great amount
both of fire and of moisture ; the fire as it consumes
the material set before it quickly demands a second
supply ; the moisture is sluiced in a stream through
the genital organs, and creates in them irritations,
itchings and titillations without ceasing.

It is not sé with men who aie mad to possess the 11
wives of others, sometimes those of their relations
and friends, who live to work havoc among their
neighbours, who go about to bastardize wholesale
widespread family connexions, to turn their prayers
for married happiness into a curse and render their
hopes of offspring fruitless. Here it is the soul which
isincurably diseased. Such persons must be punished
with death® as the common enemies of the whole
human race, that they may not live to ruin more
houses with immunity and be the tutors of others who
make it their business to emulate the wickedness of
their ways.

III. Excellent also are the other injunctions laid 12
down by the law on the relation of the sexes.’ It
commands abstinence not only from the wives of
others but also from widows 5 in cases where the union
is forbidden by the moral law. To the Persian 18
custom it at once shows its aversion and abhorrence
and forbids it as a very grave offence against holy
living.¢ For the Persian magnates marry their

but all the prohibited relations which follow. Cohn’s insertion
of μητρυιῶν is indefensible, as clearly it is mothers rather than
stepmothers who are primarily under consideration. But no
insertion is required. als . . . συνέρχεσθαι is a natural way
of describing unions which, though not adulterous, are
incestuous. |
4 Lev. xviii. 7 ff. For the Persians’ practice see App.
p- 632.
VOL. VII 21 481

PHILO

τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἄγονται Kal τοὺς φύντας ἐκ τούτων
εὐγενεστάτους νομίζουσι καὶ βασιλείας, ὡς λόγος,
14 τῆς μεγίστης ἀξιοῦσιν: οὗ τί ἂν γένοιτο δυσ-
σεβέστερον ἀνοσιούργημα; πατρὸς εὐνὴν τετελευ-
τηκότος, ἣν ἄψαυστον ὡς ἱερὰν ἐχρῆν φυλάττεσθαι,
καταισχύνειν, γήρως δὲ καὶ μητρὸς. αἰδῶ μὴ
λαμβάνειν, τὸν αὐτὸν τῆς αὐτῆς υἱὸν καὶ ἄνδρα
γίνεσθαι καὶ πάλιν τὴν αὐτὴν τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ
γυναῖκα καὶ μητέρα, καὶ τοὺς ἀμφοῖν παῖδας τοῦ
μὲν πατρὸς ἀδελφούς, υἱωνοὺς δὲ τῆς μητρός, καὶ
τὴν μὲν ὧν ἔτεκε μητέρα τε καὶ μάμμην, τὸν δὲ
ὧν ἐγέννησεν ἐν ταὐτῷ πατέρα τε καὶ ὁμομήτριον
15 ἀδελφόν. ταῦτ᾽' ἐπράχθη τὸ παλαιὸν
καὶ παρ᾽ Ἕλλησιν ἐν Θήβαις ἐπὶ τοῦ Λαΐου παιδὸς
[302] Οἰδίποδος καὶ ἐπράχθη κατ᾽ ἄγνοιαν, οὐχ ἑκουσίῳ
γνώμῃ, καὶ ὅμως τοσαύτην κακῶν φορὰν ἤνεγκεν

ὁ γάμος, ὡς μηδὲν ἐλλειφθῆναι τῶν εἰς τὴν ἀνω-
16 τάτω βαρυδαιμονίαν. πολέμων τε γὰρ ἐμφυλίων
καὶ ξενικῶν διαδοχαὶ καθάπερ κλῆρος παισὶ καὶ
ἐκγόνοις παρὰ πατέρων καὶ προγόνων ἀπελείπετο
καὶ πορθήσεις πόλεων τῶν ἐν TH ᾿λλάδι μεγίστων
ἐγίνοντο καὶ φθοραὶξ στρατιωτικῶν δυνάμεων
ἐγχωρίων τε καὶ τῶν κατὰ συμμαχίαν ἀφικνου-
μένων καὶ ἡγεμόνων τῶν παρ᾽ ἑκατέροις ἀρίστων
ἐπάλληλοι φθοραὶ καὶ διὰ τὰς περὶ κράτους [Kai]?

1 Cohn prints ἀδελφόν---ταῦτ᾽, regarding what follows as a
continuance of the sentence which begins with πατρὸς εὐνὴν.

2 The duplication of φθοραὶ has been justly suspected.
Mangey proposed to substitute φόνοι for the first φθοραὶ,
Heinemann thought it better to omit it.

8 καὶ should be omitted. κράτος ἀρχῆς is a common ex-
pression in Philo, e.g. Mos. i. 96, 307.

482

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 13-16

mothers and regard the children of the marriage as
nobles of the highest birth, worthy, so it is said, to
hold the supreme sovereignty. What form of un-
holiness could be more impious than this: that a
father’s bed, which should be kept untouched as
something sacred, should be brought to shame : that
no respect should be shown for a mother’s ageing
years : that the same man should be son and husband
to the same woman, and again the same woman wife
and mother to the same man: that the children of
both should be brothers to their father and grandsons
to their mother : that she should be both mother and
grandmother. of those whom she bore and he both
father and half-brother of those whom he begot?

_. Even, among the Greeks these things
were done in old days in Thebes in the case of Oedipus
the son of Laius. They were done in ignorance, not
by deliberate intention, and yet the marriage pro-
duced such a harvest of ills that nothing was wanting
that could lead to the utmost misery. For a succes-
sion of wars civil and foreign was left to be passed on
as a heritage to children and descendants from their
fathers and ancestors.* The greatest cities in Greece
were sacked, and armed forces both of natives and
allied contingents were destroyed: the bravest
leaders on both sides fell one after the other ; brothers
slew brothers in the deadly feud engendered by

« The reference is not only to the war of the Seven against
Thebes, caused by the rivalry of the two sons of Oedipus,
but also to the later war of the Epigoni (the sons of the
first set: of chieftains), which might be regarded as in-
directly caused by the curse of Oedipus, and in which Thebes
according to the legend was sacked. Cf. Diodorus, iv. 66.
The whole section, however, is a great exaggeration of the
ordinary tradition.

483

17

18

19

20

PHILO

ἀρχῆς ἀσυμβάτους ἔχθρας ἀδελφοκτονίαι, δι᾽ ἃς οὐ
μόνον at συγγένειαι. καὶ πατρίδες ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ
πλείστη μοῖρα τοῦ “Ἑλληνικοῦ παντὸς ἐξεφθάρη
πανωλεθρίᾳ: κεναὶ γὰρ ai πρότερον εὐανδροῦσαι
πόλεις οἰκητόρων μνημεῖα τῶν τῆς ᾿Ελλάδος συμ-
φορῶν ὑπελείφθησαν, ἀτυχὴς θέα τοῖς ὁρῶσιν.

οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ Ἰ]έρσαι, παρ᾽ οἷς ταῦτα
ἐπιτηδεύεται, τῶν παραπλησίων᾽ κακῶν ἀμοιροῦσιν'
ἀεὶ γὰρ ἐν στρατείαις καὶ μάχαις εἰσὶ κτείνοντες
καὶ κτεινόμενοι καὶ τοτὲ μὲν τοὺς πλησιοχώρους.
κατατρέχοντες τοτὲ δὲ τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους ἀμυ-
νόμενοι" πολλοὶ δὲ πολλαχόθεν ἐπανίστανται, τοῦ
βαρβαρικοῦ μὴ πεφυκότος ἠρεμεῖν" πρὶν γοῦν
καταλυθῆναι τὴν ἐν χερσὶ στάσιν, ἕτέρα φύεται,
ὡς μηδένα τοῦ ἔτους ὑπεξῃρῆσθαι καιρὸν εἰς
ἡσυχίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θέρους καὶ χειμῶνος με ἡμέραν
καὶ νύκτωρ ὁπλοφορεῖν, πλείω χρόνον ἐν τοῖς
στρατοπέδοις ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ ταλαιπωροῦντας ἢ ἐν
ταῖς πόλεσιν οἰκοῦντας διὰ πολλὴν ἔνδειαν εἰρήνης.
ἐῶ λέγειν τὰς τῶν βασιλέων μεγάλας καὶ ὑπερ-
ὄγκους εὐπραγίας, οἷς ἀγώνισμα πρῶτον εὐθὺς ἅμα
τῇ παραλήψει τῆς ἡγεμονίας τὸ μέγιστον ἄγος,
ἀδελφοκτονία, μαντευομένων τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν
γενησομένην ἴσως ἐπίθεσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δοκεῖν
εὐλόγως κτείνειν. ἅπερ μοι δοκεῖ πάντα συμ-
βαίνειν διὰ τὰς ἀναρμόστους υἱῶν πρὸς μητέρας
ὁμιλίας, τῆς ἐφόρου τῶν ἀνθρωπείων δίκης ἀμυ-
νομένης τῶν ἀνοσιουργημάτων τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας"
ἀσεβοῦσι δ᾽ οὐχ οἵ δρῶντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι
τοῖς δρῶσιν ἑκουσίῳ γνώμῃ συνεπιγράφονται.

τοσαύτην δὲ ὁ ἡμέτερος νόμος φυλακὴν

484.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 16-20

ambition for sovereign power. In consequence not
only families and independent territories, but also
the largest part of the Greek world perished involved
in the general destruction. For cities formerly well
populated were left stripped of their inhabitants as
monuments of the disasters of Greece, a sinister sight
to contemplate. Nor are the Persians
either who follow these practices exempt from similar
troubles, for they are always engaging in campaigns
and battles, slaying and being slain. Sometimes
they are attacking the neighbouring populations,
sometimes defending themselves against insurrection.
For of insurgents many appear from many quarters,
as the barbarian nature can never remain in quietude.
Thus before the sedition of the hour is put down
another springs up, so that no season of the year is
reserved for a tranquil life, but summer and winter,
day and night they are bearing arms, and so rarely
does peace reign that they spend more time enduring
the hardships of encampment in the open air than
dwelling in their cities. I put on one side the great 18
and magnificent triumphs of kings whose first exploit
when they succeed to the throne is that worst of
sacrileges fratricide—murders which they try to
vindicate as reasonable by predicting that their
brothers will probably attack them. All these things 19
appear to me to be the result of the ill-matched
matings of sons with mothers. For justice who
watches over human affairs avenges the unholy deeds
on the impious, and the impiety extends beyond the
perpetrators of the deed to those who voluntarily
range themselves with the perpetrators.

But such careful precautions has our law taken in 20

@ See App. pp. 632-633.

μιὰ

7

485

PHILO

πεποίηται τοῦ πράγματος, ὥστε οὐδὲ προγονῷ
τελευτήσαντος πατρὸς ἄγεσθαι μητρυιὰν ἐφῆκε,
διά τε τὴν εἰς τὸν πατέρα τιμὴν καὶ διότι μητρυιᾶς
καὶ μητρὸς ὄνομα συγγενές, εἰ καὶ μὴ τὸ τῆς

21 ψυχῆς συνῳδὸν πάθος" ὁ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίας ἀπέχεσθαι
διδαχθείς, ὅτι μητρυιὰ προσερρήθη, πολὺ μᾶλλον
ἀφέξεται τῆς φύσει μητρός" καὶ εἴ τις. διὰ τὴν

[308] ἐπὶ τῷ πατρὶ μνήμην αἰδεῖται τὴν ἐκείνου | ποτὲ
γενομένην γυναῖκα, δῆλός ἐστιν ἕνεκα τῆς εἰς
ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς γονεῖς τιμῆς οὐδὲν βουλευσόμενος
ἐπὶ τῇ μητρὶ νεώτερον, ἐπεὶ καὶ σφόδρα ἐστὶν
εὔηθες ἡμίσει μέρει τοῦ γένους χαριζόμενον
ὁλοκλήρου καὶ παντελοῦς ὀλιγωρεῖν δοκεῖν.

22 ἸΨΡ. Ἑξῆς ἐστι παράγγελμα μηδ᾽ ἀδελφὴν ἐγ-
γυᾶσθαι, πάνυ σπουδαῖον καὶ συντεῖνον εἰς ἐγκρά-
τειαν ὁμοῦ καὶ ,εὐκοσμίαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν ᾿Αθηναῖος
Σόλων ὁ ὁμοπατρίους ἐφεὶς ἄγεσθαι τὰς ὁμομητρίους
ἐκώλυσεν, ὁ δὲ Λακεδαιμονίων νομοθέτης ἔμπα ιν
τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς ὁμογαστρίοις γάμον ἐπιτρέψας τὸν

28 πρὸς τὰς ὁμοπατρίους a ἀπεῖπεν" ὁ δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων
χλεύην {θέμενος τὴν ἑκατέρων εὐλάβειαν ὡς
ἡμίεργα διαταττομένων εὐφόρησεν" εἰς ἀσέλγειαν,
ἐπιδαψιλευόμενος δυσθεράπευτον κακὸν σώμασι
καὶ ψυχαῖς ἀκρασίαν καὶ παρασχὼν ἄδειαν ἁπάσας
ἀδελφὰς ἄγεσθαι, τάς τε ἰδίας τοῦ ἑτέρου τῶν

1 A verb has evidently been lost. Cohn’s insertion of
θέμενος is justified by χλεύην τίθεσθαι in several places, 6.9.
Mos. i. 190.

2 Cohn suspects this word, for which impossible variants
are given in some ss., and suggests ἐφώρμησεν. I think the

word as given in the translation (or possibly “ blossomed
into ᾽,) is natural and appropriate.

@ Ley. xviii. 8.

486

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 20-23

these matters that it has not even permitted the son
of a first marriage to marry his stepmother after the
᾿ς death of his father, both on account of the honour due
to his father and because the names of mother and
stepmother are closely akin, however different are
the feelings called up by the two words.? For he 21
who has been taught to abstain from another’s wife
because she is called his stepmother, will a fortiori
abstain from taking his natural mother ; and if the
memory of his father makes him respect her who
was once his father’s wife, the honour which he pays
to both his parents will certainly keep him from enter-
taining the idea of violating his mother in any way.
For it would be the height of folly while acknowledg-
ing the claims of a half parentage to appear to treat
with contempt the full and complete whole.

IV. Next comes a prohibition against espousing 22
a sister, a very excellent rule tending to promote
both continence and outward decency.° Now Solon
the lawgiver of the Athenians permitted marriage
with half-sisters on the father’s side but. prohibited
it when the mother was the same.? The lawgiver |
of the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, allowed
the second but forbade the first. But the lawgiver 23
of the Egyptians poured scorn upon the cautiousness
of both, and, holding that the course which they
enjoined stopped half-way, produced a fine crop of
lewdness. With a lavish hand he bestowed on bodies
and souls the poisonous bane of incontinence and gave
full liberty to marry sisters of every degree whether
they belonged to one of their brother's parents or

ὃ The allusion is to the hostility constantly connected with
the name pntpvia. See examples in L. ἃς S.
¢ Lev. xviii. 9, xx. 17. @ See App. p. 633.

487

24

2ὅ

26

PHILO

γονέων, τοῦδε 1 ἢ τοῦδε, καὶ τὰς ἐξ ἀμφοῖν καὶ τὰς
οὐ νεωτέρας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρεσβυτέρας καὶ
ἰσήλικας" καὶ δίδυμοι γὰρ πολλάκις ἐγεννήθησαν,
οὗς ἡ μὲν φύσις ἅμα τῇ γενέσει διήρτησε καὶ
διέζευξεν, ἡ δ᾽ ἀκολασία καὶ φιληδονία εἰς κοινωνίαν
ἐκάλεσεν ἀκοινώνητον καὶ ἁρμονίαν ἀνάρμοστον.
ἅπερ ἐκμυσαξάμενος ὁ ἱερώτατος Μωυσῆς ὡς
ἀλλότρια καὶ ἐχθρὰ πολιτείας ἀνεπιλήπτου καὶ
προτρέποντα καὶ ἀλείφοντα πρὸς τὰ αἴσχιστα τῶν
ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀνὰ κράτος ἀπεῖπεν ἀδελφῇ συν-
ἔρχεσθαι, εἴτε ἐξ ἀμφοῖν εἴτε καὶ μόνου γένουτο τοῦ
ἑτέρου. τί γὰρ δεῖ τὸ τῆς αἰδοῦς κάλλος αἰσχύνειν;
τί δ᾽ ἀχρωμάτους κατασκευάζειν παρθένους, ἃς
ἐρυθριᾶν ἀναγκαῖον; τί δὲ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους
ἀνθρώπους κοινωνίας καὶ ἐπιμιξίας ἐπέχειν εἰς
βραχὺ χωρίον τὸ ἑκάστης οἰκίας συνωθοῦντας μέγα
καὶ λαμπρὸν ἔρνος" ἐκτείνεσθαι καὶ χεῖσθαι δυνά-
μενον εἰς ἠπείρους καὶ νήσους καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην
πᾶσαν; at γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς ὀθνείους ἐπιγαμίαι
καινὰς ἀπεργάζονται συγγενείας τῶν ἀφ᾽ αἵματος
οὐκ ἀποδεούσας. V. ὧν χάριν πολλὰς
καὶ ἄλλας ὁμιλίας ἐκώλυσε προστάξας μὴ θυγα-
τριδῆν, μ μὴ υἱιδῆν, μ μὴ τηθίδα πρὸς πατρὸς ἢ μητρός,
μὴ θείου ἢ υἱοῦ ἢ ἀδελφοῦ “γυναῖκα “γενομένην
ἐγγυᾶσθαι, μηδ᾽ αὖ προγονὴν ἢ χήραν ἢ παρθένον

1 MSS. ἔργον, for which Mangey and Cohn substitute γένος.
I have adopted ἔρνος (my own correction), as favoured both
by the sense and the ductus literarum.

@ See App. p. 633.

ὃ Philo prohibits the marriage of brother and sister (a
practice which, it must be remembered, was adopted by
the dynasty of the Ptolemies, which he did not regard with
disfavour, cf. Mos. ii. 30) on the grounds (1) that it outrages

488

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 23-26

to both, and not only if they were younger than their
brothers but also if they were older or of the same
age.* For twins are often born who, although
separated and disunited by nature at birth, enter
at the call of concupiscence and voluptuousness into
a partnership and wedlock which are neither in the
true sense of the words. These practices our most 24
holy Moses rejected with abhorrence as alien and
hostile to a commonwealth free from reproach and
as encouragements and incitements to the vilest of
customs. He stoutly forbade the union of a brother
with a sister whether both her parents were the same
as his or only one.’ For modesty is lovely, why put it 25
to shame? Maidens must blush, why drive the hue
from their cheeks ἢ Why hamper the fellow-feeling
and inter-communion of men with men by compress-
ing within the narrow space of each separate house
the great and goodly plant which might extend and
spread itself over continents and islands and the
whole inhabited world? For intermarriages with
outsiders create new kinships not a wit inferior to
blood-relationships. V. On this principle 26
he prohibits many other unions,° not allowing mar-
riage with a son’s daughter or a daughter’s daughter,
nor with an aunt whether paternal or maternal, nor
with one who has been wife to an uncle or son or
brother, nor again with a stepdaughter whether

family decency; (2) tends to prevent intermarriage with less
closely related families.

¢ All these degrees of relationship are mentioned in Lev.
xviii 10-16, except that there the prohibition against marriage
with the paternal uncle’s wife does not seem to be extended,
as here implied, to the maternal uncle’s wife. In the parallel
passage, xx. 20, the R.V. has “‘ uncle’s wife ’’ simply, but Philo
would read in the Lxx τῆς συγγενοῦς αὐτοῦ.

489

PHILO

ζώσης μὲν τῆς γυναικὸς---ἀπαγε--ἀλλὰ μηδ᾽ ἀπο-
θανούσης" δυνάμει. γὰρ ὅ γε πατρωὸς πατὴρ
ὀφείλων τὴν ἐκ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐν τάξει θυγατρὸς

27 τίθεσθαι. πάλιν δύο ἀδελφὰς “ἄγεσθαι τὸν αὐτὸν

[804]

28

οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει, οὔτ᾽ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ Ι. οὔτ᾽ ἐν δια-
ἔρουσι χρόνοις, κἂν τύχῃ τις ἣν προέγημεν
ἀπεωσμένος" ζώσης γὰρ ἐ ἔτι τῆς συνοικούσης, εἴτε
καὶ ἀπηλλαγμένης, ἐάν τε χηρεύῃ ἐάν τε καὶ
ἑτέρῳ γαμηθῇ, τὴν ἀδελφὴν οὐχ ὅσιον ὑπέλαβεν
ἐπὶ τὰ τῆς ἠτυχηκυίας παρέρχεσθαι, προδιδάσκων
τὰ συγγενικὰ δίκαια μὴ λύειν μηδ᾽ ἐπιβαίνειν
πταίσμασι τῆς οὕτως ἠνωμένης κατὰ γένος μη ;
ἐναβρύνεσθαι καὶ ἐντρυφᾶν θεραπευομένην ὑπὸ τῶν
ἐχθρῶν ἐκείνης καὶ ἀντιθεραπεύουσαν αὐτούς.
ἐγείρονται. γὰρ ἐκ τούτων χαλεπαὶ ζηλοτυπίαι καὶ
υσπαρηγόρητοι φιλονεικίαι φορὰς ἀμυθήτους ἐπ-
ἄγουσαι κακῶν" ὅμοιον γὰρ ὡς εἰ καὶ τὰ μέρη τοῦ
σώματος τῆς κατὰ φύσιν “ἁρμονίας ἐκστάντα καὶ
κοινωνίας στασιάζοι πρὸς ἄλληλα, ὃ νόσους
ἀνιάτους ἀπεργάζεται καὶ bBopds: ἀδελφαὶ δέ,
εἰ καὶ διαιρετὰ μέρη γεγόνασιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν ἁρμόζονται
καὶ ἐνοῦνται φύσει καὶ . συγγενείᾳ μιᾷ' ἡ δὲ

1 Perhaps read εἰ. See note ὁ.

@ In these two sections Philo follows closely Lev. xviii. 18,
‘thou shalt not take a woman to her sister to be a rival to
her, to uncover her nakedness beside the other in her life-

“ time.” The txx for “ rival,’’ ἀντίζηλος, suggests even better

than the R.V. the idea of jealousy which Philo stresses.
Nothing is said in Leviticus of the deceased wife’s sister,
nor by Philo, though his argument suggests that he would
not object to it. He also says nothing about marriage with
a brother’s wife, though that is forbidden in v. 16. Possibly
he did not see how to reconcile it with the express injunction

490

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 26-28

widow or unmarried, I need not say while the wife
is alive, heaven forbid, but even after her death. For
the stepfather is virtually a father whose duty is to
set his wife’s daughter in the same position as his
own. Again, he does not allow the same man to 27
marry two sisters either at the same or at different
times, even if the person in question has repudiated
the one he married first. For while she is still alive
either as his consort or: divorced, whether she is
remaining in widowhood or has married another, he
considered that the law of holiness required that the
sister should not take the position which the wife
has lost by her misfortune, but should learn not to
set at nought the rights of kinship, nor use as a
stepping-stone the fallen state of one so closely
united to her by birth, nor bask at ease while enjoy-
ing and returning the caresses of her sister’s enemies.
For from this source grow grave jealousies and bitter 28
feuds bringing with them train upon train of evils
without number. For it is just as if the parts of
the body were to renounce their natural partnership
and place in the system and engage in strife with
each other, thus producing incurable diseases and
fatalities. Sisters though made as separate parts
of the system are fitted into it and formed into a
single whole by nature and identity of parentage.

of such a marriage, “to raise up seed to the brother,”’ in
Deut. xxv. 5 ff.

> If εἰ is read for εἴτε (see note 1), the meaning will be

** while his (former) partner is alive, even though she has
been divorced.’ This certainly best suits the rest of the
sentence, which is confined to the case of the divorced wife.
On the other hand it strains the meaning of the present
participle τῆς συνοικούσης and leaves out of consideration τῷ
αὐτῷ χρόνῳ above, which ΠΛΕΙΕΘΕΙΣ contemplates the possibility
of bigamy.

491

29

80

31

PHILO

4 ’ > ’ 9 ’
ζηλοτυπία, πάθος ἀργαλεώτατον, ἀπορρήττουσα
χαλεπὰ καινουργεῖ κακὰ καὶ δυσίατα.
> A A > A , 4 ,
ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἀλλοεθνεῖ, φησί, κοινωνίαν γάμου συν-
τίθεσο, μή ποτε μαχομένοις ἔθεσιν ὑπαχθεὶς ἐνδῷς
καὶ τῆς πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ὁδοῦ λάθῃς διαμαρτὼν
πρὸς ἀνοδίαν ἐκτραπείς: καὶ τάχα μὲν αὐτὸς
ἀνθέξεις ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας ἡρματισμένος ὑπο-
θήκαις ἀρίσταις, ἃς οἱ γονεῖς ᾿ κατεπάδοντες ἀεὶ
τοὺς ἱεροὺς νόμους ὑφηγοῦντο: δέος δὲ οὐ μικρόν
ἐστι περὶ υἱῶν καὶ θυγατέρων, ἴσως γὰρ δελεα-
σθέντες νόθοις πρὸ γνησίων ἔθεσι κινδυνεύουσι τὴν
τοῦ ἑνὸς θεοῦ τιμὴν ἀπομαθεῖν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ
καὶ τέλος τῆς ἀνωτάτω βαρυδαιμονίας.

᾿Ἐὰν δέ, φησίν, ἀνδρὸς ἀπαλλαγεῖσα γυνὴ καθ᾽
ἣν ἂν τύχῃ πρόφασιν ἕτέρῳ γημαμένη πάλιν
χηρεύσῃ, ζῶντος 7 καὶ τετελευτηκότος τοῦ δευ-
τέρου, μὴ ἐπανίτω πρὸς ἄνδρα τὸν πρότερον, ἀλλὰ

“A A 3 μή ~ DS ~ “4
πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔνσπονδος μᾶλλον 7 τῷδε γενέσθω,
θεσμοὺς παραβᾶσα τοὺς ἀρχαίους, ὧν ἐξελάθετο
φίλτρα καινὰ πρὸ τῶν παλαιῶν ἑλομένη. πρὸς
δὲ συμβάσεις εἴ τις ἐθέλει χωρεῖν ἀνὴρ τῇ τοιαύτῃ

α Ex. xxxiv. 16, Deut. vii. 3 (here, as also in 88 30, 81,
Philo digresses from his interpretation of the prohibitions in
Lev. xviii.) Though the prohibition in both Exodus and
Deuteronomy is against intermarriage with the conquered
Canaanites, the motive assigned, viz. fear of contamina-
tion with heathenism, is naturally regarded as making it
a general ordinance. Josephus also appeals to it in con-
demnation of Solomon, 4xt. viii. 191.

> Deut. xxiv. 4, where such an act is described as an

abomination before the Lord, and defiling (txx) the land.
Though no penalty is mentioned, Philo, perhaps not un-

492

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 28-31

And jealousy is a most troublesome passion, creating
if it breaks out grave evils unknown before and
hardly to be cured. ¢ But also, he says,
do not enter into the partnership of marriage with
a member of a foreign nation, lest some day con-
quered by the forces of opposing customs you
surrender and stray unawares from the path that
leads to piety and turn aside into a pathless wild.
And though perhaps you yourself will hold your
ground steadied from your earliest years by the
admirable instructions instilled into you by your
parents, with the holy laws always as their key-note,
thereis much to be feared for your sons and daughters.
It may well be that they, enticed by spurious customs
which they prefer to the genuine, are likely to
unlearn the honour due to the one God, and that is
the first and the last stage of supreme misery.

29

Another commandment is that if a woman after 30

parting from her husband for any cause whatever
marries another and then again becomes a widow,
whether this second husband is alive or dead, she
must not return to her first husband but ally herself
with any other rather than him, because she has
broken with the rules that bound her in the past and
cast them into oblivion when she chose new love-ties

in preference to the οἱα. ὃ And if a man is willing to 31

contract himself with such a woman, he must be

reasonably, interprets these strong phrases as describing an
act deserving the death penalty, but is hard put to justify it.
Apparently he understands the text as meaning that the
remarriage shews that there was no real reason for the divorce.
The woman is therefore ‘‘ defiled’’ and an adulteress, and he
not only a ‘‘ pander,”’ but an adulterer, either because he has
connived at her adultery or perhaps because to marry an
adulteress is in itself adultery. See further, App. p. 633.
4.93

89
[305]

33

PHILO

γυναικί, μαλακίας καὶ ἀνανδρίας ἐκφερέσθω δόξαν,
ἐκτετμημένος τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ βιωφελέστατον, μισο-
πόνηρον πάθος, ὑφ᾽ οὗ καὶ τὰ οἴκων καὶ τὰ πόλεων
πράγματα κατορθοῦται, καὶ δύο τὰ μέγιστα τῶν
ἀδικημάτων εὐφόρως" ἀπομαξάμενος, μοιχείαν τε
καὶ προαγωγειαν' α γὰρ αὖθις καταλλαγαὶ
μηνύματ᾽᾽᾿ εἰσὶ τοῦ ἑκατέρου: θανάτου δίκην τινέτω
σὺν τῇ γυναικί.

VI. | Φορὰ τῶν μηνιαίων ὁπότε γένοιτο, μὴ
ψαυέτω γυναικὸς ἀνήρ, ἀλλὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον
ὁμιλίας ἀνεχέτω νόμον φύσεως αἰδούμενος καὶ
ἅμα προδιδασκόμενος μὴ ἀτελεῖς γονὰς ἀκαίρου
καὶ ἀμούσου χάριν ἡδονῆς προΐεσθαι" ὅμοιον γὰρ
ὡς εἴ τις “γεωπόνος ὑπὸ μέθης ἢ φρενοβλαβείας
πυροὺς καὶ κριθὰς εἰς λίμνας καὶ χειμάρρους ἀντὶ
πεδίων σπείροι, ἕηραῖς γὰρ γενομέναις ταῖς
ἀρούραις καταβάλλεσθαι χρὴ τὸν σπόρον εἰς
εὐκαρπίαν. καθαίρει δὲ καὶ ἡ φύσις ἑκάστῳ μηνὶ
τὴν μήτραν οἷά τινα θαυμαστὴν ἄρουραν, ἧς τὸν
καιρὸν ἀγαθοῦ γεωργοῦ τρόπον ἐπιτηρητέον, ἵν᾽
ἔτι μὲν ἐπικλυζομένης ἐπέχοι τὸν σπόρον--λήσεται
γὰρ τῇ φορᾷ κατασυρεὶς" ὑπὸ τῆς ὑγρότητος τοὺς
σπερματικοὺς τόνους οὐ χαλασθεὶς" “μόνον. ἀλλὰ
καὶ εἰς ἅπαν ἐκλυθείς"" οὗτοι δ᾽ εἰσὶν οἱ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ
τῷ τῆς φύσεως ἐργαστηρίῳ ζῳοπλαστοῦντες καὶ

1 mss. εὐφυῶς.

2 mss. mostly λήσεται yap ἡ σπορὰ Karacupeioa . ... χαλα-
σθεῖσα. . . ἐκλυθεῖσα. Cohn follows F (supported by the
Armenian), which has τῇ φορᾷ, though combined with the
impossible feminine participles.

2 Lev. xviii. 19 (cf. Ezekiel, xviii. 6). Here Philo resumes
his interpretation of Lev. xviii. and, except for §§ 34-36, con-

404.

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 31-33

saddled with a character for degeneracy and loss of
manhood. He has eliminated from his soul the hatred
of evil, that emotion by which our life is so well served
and the affairs of houses and cities are conducted as
they should be, and has lightly taken upon him the
stamp of two heinous crimes, adultery and pandering.
For such subsequent reconciliations are proofs of both.
The proper punishment for him is death and for the
woman also.

VI. Whenever the menstrual issue occurs, a man 32
must not touch a woman, but must during that
period refrain from intercourse and respect the law
of nature.* He must also remember the lesson that
the generative seeds should not be wasted fruitlessly
for the sake of a gross and untimely pleasure. For
it is just as if a husbandman should in intoxication
or lunacy sow wheat and barley in ponds or mountain-
streams instead of in the plains, since the fields
should become dry before the seed is laid in them.
Now nature also each month purges the womb as if 33
it were a cornfield—a field with mysterious pro-
perties, over which, like a good husbandman, he
must watch for the right time to arrive. So while
the field is still inundated he will keep back the seed,
which otherwise will be silently swept away by
the stream, as the humidity not only relaxes, but
utterly paralyses the seminal nerve-forces, which in
nature’s laboratory, the womb, mould the living
creature and with consummate craftsmanship perfect
tinues it in the same order to the end of § 53. He omits
vv. 20, 21, the first denouncing simple adultery, already
dealt with, the second against offering children to Moloch,
which has no connexion with his present subject, even if he

understood it, which is hardly possible, as the txx has “‘ give
thy seed to serve the ruler.”

405

34

35

36

PHILO

τῶν μερῶν ἕκαστον σώματός τε καὶ ψυχῆς
ἀκρότητι τέχνης τελεσιουργοῦντες---, εἰ δ᾽ ἐπίσχοι
τὰ μηνιαῖα, θαρρῶν ἤδη γόνιμα κατασπείροι
μηκέτι φθορὰς τῶν καταβληθησομένων δεδιώς.
᾿Ονειδιστέον καὶ τοῖς σκληρὰν καὶ λιθώδη γῆν
ἀροῦσιν' οὗτοι δὲ τίνες ἂν εἶεν ἢ οἱ στείραις συν-
ἐρχόμενοι γυναιξί; θήρᾳ γὰρ αὐτὸ μόνον. ἡδονῆς
ἀκράτορος ὡς οἵ λαγνίστατοι τὰς γονὰς ἑκουσίῳ
γνώμῃ διαφθείρουσιν" ἐπεὶ τίνος ἄλλου χάριν
ἐγγυῶνται τὰς τοιαύτας; οὐ μὴν δι᾿ ἐλπίδα τέκνων
ἣν ἴσασιν ἐξ a ἀνάγκης ἀτελῆ γενησομένην, ἀλλὰ δι᾽
ὑπερβάλλοντα οἶστρον καὶ ἀκρασίαν ἀνίατον. ὅσοι
μὲν οὖν ἄγονται κόρας ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ πῶς ἔχουσιν
εὐθὺς εὐτοκίας ἢ τοὐναντίον, ὁπόταν χρόνῳ μακρῷ
ὕστερον ἐκ τῆς ἀγονίας αἰσθανόμενοι στείρας αὐτὰς
μὴ ἀποπέμπωνται, συγγνώμης εἰσὶν ἐπάξιοι συν-
ηθείας, βιαστικωτάτου πράγματος, ἡττώμενοι καὶ
φίλτρα ἀρχαῖα συμβιώσει μακρᾷ ταῖς ψυχαῖς
ἐνεσφραγισμένα λύειν ἀδυνατοῦντες. ὅσοι δὲ προ-
εδοκιμασμένας ἑτέροις ἀνδράσιν ὡς εἰσὶν ἄγονοι
μνῶνται συῶν τρόπον ἢ τράγων ὀχεύοντες αὐτὸ
μόνον, ἐν ἀσεβῶν στήλαις ἐγγραφέσθωσαν ὡς
ἀντίπαλοι θεοῦ: τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἅτε ,Φιλοζῴῳ καὶ
φιλανθρώπῳ du ἐπιμελείας τῆς πάσης ἐστὶ σω-
τηρίαν καὶ μονὴν τοῖς γένεσιν ἅπασιν ἐργάζεσθαι,
δ᾽ ἅμα τῇ καταβολῇ σβέσιν τοῖς σπέρμασι
τεχνάζοντες ἐχθροὶ τῆς φύσεως ὁμολογουμένως
εἰσ.
1 So Cohn for the ὅσοι of most mss. F, however, has οἱ

(=of), which may be right, of λαγνίστατοι being the common
belated epithet, ‘* lecherous people that they are.”

496

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 33-36

each part both of body and soul. But if the menstrua-
tion ceases, he may boldly sow the generative seeds,
no longer fearing that what he lays will perish.

¢They too must be branded with reproach, who 34
plough the hard and stony land. And who should
they be but those who mate with barren women?
For in the quest of mere licentious pleasure like the
-most lecherous of men they destroy ὃ the procreative
germs with deliberate purpose. For what other motive
can they have in plighting themselves to such women?
It cannot be the hope of offspring, a hope which they
know must necessarily fail to be realized ; it can only
be an inordinate frenzy, and incontinence past all
cure. Those who marry maidens in ignorance at the 35
time of their capacity or incapacity for successful
motherhood, and later refuse to dismiss them, when
prolonged childlessness shews them to be barren,
deserve our pardon. Familiarity, that most con-
straining influence, is too strong for them, and they
are unable to rid themselves of the charm of old
affection imprinted on their souls by long companion-
ship. But those who sue for marriage with women 36
whose sterility has already been proved with other
husbands, do but copulate like pigs or goats, and their
names should be inscribed in the lists of the impious
as adversaries of God. For while God in His love
both for mankind and all that lives spares no care to
effect the preservation and permanence of every race,
those persons who make an art of quenching the life
of the seed as it drops, stand confessed as the enemies
of nature.

¢ Philo has not, nor does he claim to have, any biblical
authority for these three sections. See App. pp. 633-634.
> Or ‘* waste.”

VOL. VII 2k 497

37

[806]

38

99

PHILO

VII. ᾿Ἐπεισκεκώμακε δὲ ταῖς πόλεσιν ἕτερον
πολὺ τοῦ λεχθέντος μεῖζον κακόν, τὸ παιδεραστεῖν,
ὃ πρότερον μὲν καὶ λεχθῆναι μέγα ὄνειδος ἦν, νυνὶ
δ᾽ ἐστὶν αὔχημα οὐ τοῖς δρῶσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ |
τοῖς πάσχουσιν, οἵ νόσον θήλειαν νοσεῖν ἐθιζόμενοι
τάς τε ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα͵ διαρρέουσι μηδὲν
ἐμπύρευμα τῆς ἄρρενος γενεᾶς ἐῶντες ὑποτύφεσθαι,
περιφανῶς οὕτως τὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἀνα-
πλεκόμενοι καὶ διακοσμούμενοι καὶ ψιμμυθίῳ καὶ
φύκεσι καὶ τοῖς ὁμοιοτρόποις τὰς ὄψεις τριβόμενοι
καὶ ὑπογραφόμενοι καὶ εὐώδεσι μύροις λίπα
χριόμενοι---προσαγωγὸν γὰρ μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς τοιού-
τοις τὸ εὐῶδες ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς εἰς εὐκοσμίαν
ἠσκημένοις---, καὶ τὴν ἄρρενα φύσιν ἐπιτηδεύσει
τεχνάζοντες εἰς θήλειαν μετα άλλειν οὐκ ἐρυθριῶσι.
καθ᾽ ὧν φονᾶν ἄξιον νόμῳ πειθαρχοῦντας, ὃς
κελεύει τὸν ἀνδρόγυνον τὸ φύσεως νόμισμα" παρα-
κόπτοντα νηποινεὶ τεθνάναι, μηδεμίαν ἡμέραν
ἀλλὰ μηδ᾽ ὥραν ἐώμενον ζῆν, ὄνειδος αὑτοῦ καὶ

4 \
οἰκίας καὶ πατρίδος ὄντα καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος
ἀνθρώπων γένους. ὁ δὲ παιδεραστὴς ἴστω" τὴν
αὐτὴν δίκην ὑπομένων, ἐπειδὴ τὴν παρὰ φύσιν
ἡδονὴν διώκει καὶ τὰς πόλεις TO γε ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἧκον
μέρος ἐρήμους καὶ κενὰς ἀποδείκνυσιν οἰκητόρων
ιαφθείρων τὰς γονὰς καὶ προσέτι τῶν μεγίστων
κακῶν, ἀνανδρίας καὶ μαλακίας, ὑφηγητὴς καὶ

1 mss. τὰ φύσει (φύσεως) νόμιμα (ὄργανα).
2 MSS. ἔστω.

@ Lev. xviii. 22, xx. 18. Cf. the similar treatment of the
vice, De Abr. 135, 136, and also De Vit. Cont. 59-62, following
on an adverse criticism of Plato’s Symposium. The wording
here is also very similar to i. 325 above, though there it is

498

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 37-39

VII. Much graver than the above is another evil, 37
which has ramped its way into the cities, namely
pederasty.* In former days the very mention of it was
a great disgrace, but now it is a matter of boasting
not only to the active but to the passive partners,
who habituate themselves to endure the disease of
effemination, let both body and soul run to waste, and
leave no ember of their male sex-nature to smoulder.
Mark how conspicuously they braid and adorn the hair
of their heads, and how they scrub and paint their
faces with cosmetics and pigments and the like, and
smother themselves with fragrant unguents. For of
all such embellishments, used by all who deck them-
selves out to wear a comely appearance, fragrance is
the most seductive. In fact the transformation of
‘the male nature to the female is practised by them
as an art and does not raise a blush. These persons 38
are rightly judged worthy of death by those who obey
the law, which ordains that the man-woman who
debases the sterling coin of nature should perish un-
avenged, suffered not to live for a day or even an hour,
as a disgrace to himself, his house, his native land and
the whole human race. And the lover of such may 39
be assured that he is subject to the same penalty.
He pursues an unnatural pleasure and does his best
to render cities desolate and uninhabited by destroy-
ing ὃ the means of procreation. Furthermore he sees
no harm in becoming a tutor and instructor in the

based on Deut. xxiii. 1, and the expulsion of such persons from
the congregation, here on Lev. xx. 13, where the death penalty
is prescribed for both offenders (see §§ 38, 39 below). See
also App. p. 634.
> Or again “‘ wasting,”’ as in § 34. But here at least the
thought may be the same as in De Abr. 135, where the
pederast is supposed to become impotent.
: 499

ΡΗΠῸ

᾿ 4 > A 4 _A 4 e ah
διδάσκαλος ἀξιοῖ γενέσθαι τοὺς νέους ὡραΐζων
ae dso ΤΟΥ Α A 3 A ” 3 we a \ 9 A.
Kal TO τῆς ἀκμῆς ἄνθος ἐκθηλύνων, ὃ πρὸς ἀλκὴν
καὶ ῥώμην ἀλείφειν ἁρμόττον ἦν, καὶ τελευταῖον
ὅτι κακοῦ τρόπον “γεωργοῦ τὰς μὲν βαθυγείους
καὶ εὐκάρπους ἀρούρας χερσεύειν ἐᾷ μηχανώμενος
9. 9 9. κα 9 ῇ 9 a 9 991 /

ἐπ᾿ αὐταῖς ayoviav, ἐξ ὧν δ᾽ οὐδὲν βλάστημα
προσδοκᾶται τὸ παράπαν, εἰς ταῦτα πονεῖται μεθ

e os A , 93 δ᾽ Φ A JN
40 ἡμέραν TE καὶ νύκτωρ. αἰτιον οἶμαι TO παρα

4]

42

πολλοῖς τῶν δήμων ἀκρασίας καὶ μαλακίας ἄθλα
κεῖσθαι: τοὺς γοῦν ἀνδρογύνους ἔστιν ἰδεῖν διὰ
πληθυούσης ἀγορᾶς ἀεὶ σοβοῦντας κἀν ταῖς ἑορταῖς
προπομπεύοντας καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ τοὺς ἀνιέρους διειλη-
χότας καὶ μυστηρίων καὶ τελετῶν κατάρχοντας
καὶ (ra) Δήμητρος ὀργιάζοντας. ὅσοι δ᾽ αὐτῶν
τὴν καλὴν νεανιείαν προσεπιτείνοντες εἰς ἅπαν
ὠρέχθησαν μεταβολῆς τῆς εἰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ
γεννητικὰ προσαπέκοψαν, ἁλουργίδας ἀμπεχόμενοι
καθάπερ οὗ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιοι ταῖς πατρίσι
προέρχονται Sopupopovpevor, τοὺς ὑπαντῶντας
ἐπιστρέφοντες. εἰ δ᾽ ἦν ἀγανάκτησις οἵα παρὰ
τῷ ἡμετέρῳ νομοθέτῃ κατὰ THY τὰ τοιαῦτα
τολμώντων καὶ ὡς κοινὰ τῶν πατρίδων ἄγη καὶ
μιάσματα δίχα συγγνώμης ἀνῃροῦντο, πολλοὺς ἂν
ἑτέρους συνέβαινε νουθετεῖσθαι" ai γὰρ τῶν προ-
καταγνωσθέντων ἀπαραίτητοι τιμωρίαι ἀνακοπὴν
οὐ βραχεῖαν ἐργάζονται τοῖς ζηλωταῖς τῶν ὁμοίων
ἐπιτηδευμάτων.

@ The translation supposes that the idea is the same as in
500

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 39-42

grievous vices of unmanliness and effeminacy by pro-
longing the bloom? of the young and emasculating the
flower of their prime, which should rightly be trained
to strength and robustness. Finally, like a bad
husbandman he lets the deep-soiled and fruitful fields
lie sterile, by taking steps to keep them from bearing,
while he spends his labour night and day on soil from
which no growth at all can be expected. The reason 40
is, I think, to be found in the prizes awarded in many
nations to licentiousness and effeminacy. Certainly
you may see these hybrids of man and woman con-
tinually strutting about through the thick of the
market, heading the processions at the feasts,
appointed to serve as unholy ministers of holy things,
leading the mysteries and initiations and celebrating
the rites of Demeter.’ Those of them who by way of 41
heightening still further their youthful beauty have
desired to be completely changed into women and
gone on to mutilate their genital organs, are clad in
purple like signal benefactors of their native lands,
and march in front escorted by a bodyguard, attract-
ing the attention of those who meet them. But if 42
such indignation as our lawgiver felt was directed
against those who do not shrink from such conduct,
if they were cut off without condonation as public
enemies, each of them a curse and a pollution of his
country, many others would be found to take the
warning. For relentless punishment of criminals
already condemned acts as a considerable check on
those who are eager to practise the like. |
i. 325 τὸ τῆς ὥρας ταμιεύοντας ἄνθος ἵνα μὴ ῥᾳδίως papaivorro.
But the phrase is strange; Heinemann gives “" αἷθ jungen
Leute sich herausputzen lasst.’”” Two mss. have τοῦ γένους,

4

which Mangey would correct to τοὺς yévus (genas venustans).
ὃ See App. p. 634. ,

501

43
[307]

44

45

46

PHILO

VIII. | ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ ἔνιοι τὰς Συβαριτῶν καὶ τὰς
ἔτι λαγνιστέρων ἐπιθυμίας ζηλώσαντες τὸ μὲν
πρῶτον ὀψοφαγίαις καὶ οἰνοφλυγίαις καὶ ταῖς
ἄλλαις ταῖς γαστρὸς καὶ τῶν μετὰ γαστέρα
ἡδοναῖς ἐνησκήθησαν, εἶτα δὲ κορεσθέντες ἐξ-
ύὑβρισαν--ὕβριν γὰρ κόρος γεννᾶν πέφυκεν---, ὡς
ὑπὸ φρενοβλαβείας λυττᾶν καὶ ἐπιμεμηνέναι μηκέτ᾽
ἀνθρώποις εἴτ᾽ ἄρρεσιν εἴτε θηλείαις ἀλλὰ καὶ
ἀλόγοις ζῴοις, ὥσπερ ἐν Κρήτῃ φασὶ τὸ παλαιὸν
τὴν γυναῖκα Mivw τοῦ ασιλέως ὄνομα ασιφάην᾽
ταύρου γὰρ ἐρασθεῖσαν καὶ τῷ πάθει σφαδάζουσαν
ἕνεκα τῆς περὶ τὴν ὁμιλίαν ἀπογνώσεως--ἀπο-
τυγχανόμενος γὰρ ἔρως οὐ μετρίως ἐπιτείνεται---
Δαιδ ἅλῳ τὴν “κατέχουσαν συμφορὰν ἀνενεγκεῖν,
ὃς ἦν τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἄριστος δημιουργός" τὸν δὲ
πάνυ δεινὸν ὄντα ταῖς ἐπινοίαις τὰ ἀθήρατα θηρᾶν
δούρειον κατασκευάσαι βοῦν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἑτέρας
πλευρᾶς ἐνθεῖναι τὴν Ἰ]ασιφάην, τὸν δὲ ταῦρον
ὁρμήσαντα ws ἐπὶ ζῷον συγγενὲς ἐπιβαίνειν"
ἐγκύμονα δὲ γενομένην χρόνοις ὕστερον ἀποτεκεῖν
μιξόθηρα τὸν ἐπικαλούμενον Μινώταυρον. εἰκὸς
δὲ καὶ ἄλλας ἔσεσθαι Ilaciddas, ἀχαλινώτων
ἐωμένων τῶν παθῶν, καὶ οὐ γυναῖκας μόνον ἀλλὰ
καὶ ἄνδρας ἐπιμανήσεσθαι θηρίοις, ἐξ ὧν γενήσεσθαι
τέρατα παλίμφημα, μηνύματα τῆς ἀνθρώπων
ὑπερβαλλούσης βδελυρίας" δι᾿ ἣν ἰσως καὶ at τῶν
ἀνυπάρκτων καὶ μεμυθευμένων ἀγένητοι φύσεις
᾿Ἱπποκενταύρων καὶ Χιμαιρῶν καὶ τῶν ὁμοιο-
τρόπων ἔσονται. τοσοῦτον δ᾽ ἄρα τὸ
προμηθὲς ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς νόμοις ἐστίν, ὥσθ᾽ ὑπὲρ

@ Lev. xviii. 28: xx. 15-16; Ex. xxii. 19.
502

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 43-46

VIII. Even worse than this is the conduct of some 43

who have emulated the lusts of the Sybarites and
those of others even more lascivious than they. These
persons begin with making themselves experts in
dainty feeding, wine-bibbing and the other pleasures
of the belly and the parts below it. Then sated with
these they reach such a pitch of wantonness, the
natural offspring of satiety, that losing their senses
they conceive a frantic passion, no longer for human
beings male or female, but even for brute beasts.* So
according to the story did Pasiphaé the wife of King

Minos long ago in Crete.2. She was enamoured of a 44

bull, but had no hope of obtaining its company.
Consequently wild with passion, for amorousness is
vastly intensified by unsuccess, she reported the
trouble under which she was labouring to Daedalus,
who was the best craftsman of his time. His masterly
skill in devising plans for capturing the uncaptured
enabled him to construct a wooden cow, into which
he introduced Pasiphaé through one of its sides, and
the bull supposing it to be a living animal of its own
kind, charged and mounted it. She became pregnant,
and in the course of time bore a half-beast called the

Minotaur. Probably, if passions are suffered to go 45

unbridled, there will be other Pasiphaés, and not only
women but also men will be frantically in love with
wild beasts, which will produce unnatural monsters
to serve as monuments of the disgusting excesses of
mankind ; whence possibly the Hippocentaurs and
Chimeras and the like, forms of life hitherto unknown
and with no existence outside mythology, will come
into being. Actually so great is the pro- 46
visions made in the law to ensure that men should

» Cf. Diodorus, iv. 77.
503

PHILO

τοῦ μηδεμίαν ἔκθεσμον ὁμιλίαν ἀνθρώπους προσ-

47

48

49

[808]

εσθαι διείρηται μηδὲ κτῆνος ἐᾶν ὑπό τινος
ἑτερογενοῦς ὀχεύεσθαι: τράγον οὐδεὶς ἐ ἐάσει ποιμὴν
᾿Ιουδαῖος ἐπιβαίνειν ἀμνάδι οὐδὲ κριὸν χιμαίρᾳ
οὐδὲ βοῦν ¢ ἵππῳ, εἰ δὲ μή, δώσει δίκας ὡς φύσεως
δόγμα λύων, ἡἧ τὰ ἀνωτάτω γένη διατηρεῖν ἐπιμελὲς
οὐ νοθευόμενα. τοὺς ὀρεῖς ἔνιοι μὲν ἁπάντων
ὑποζυγίων προτιμῶσιν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ σώματα αὐτοῖς
πέπηγε καὶ σφόδρα νενεύρωται, κἀν τοῖς ἵππο-
φορβίοις καὶ ταῖς ἱπποστάσεσιν ὄνους ὑπερμεγέθεις,
οὗς προσαγορεύουσι κήλωνας, ἀνατρέφουσιν, ἵνα
ταῖς θηλείαις ἐπιβαίνωσι πώλοις, at δὴ μικτὸν
ζῷον ἀποτίκτουσιν ἡμίονον, ἧς παρὰ φύσιν τὴν
γένεσιν εἰδὼς ἀνὰ κράτος ἀπεῖπε Μωυσῆς καθ-
ολικωτέρᾳ προστάξει, τοῖς ἀνομοιογενέσι μὴ ἐφεὶς
ὀχεύειν ἢ ὀχεύεσθαι. προὐνόησε μὲν οὖν ἀναλόγως
τοῦ πρέποντος καὶ ἀκολούθου τῇ φύσει, μακρόθεν
δ᾽ ὡς ἀπὸ σκοπῆς ἐσωφρόνισεν ἀνθρώπους, ἵν᾽ ἐκ
τῶνδε προμαθόντες ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκες
ἀνέχωσιν ὁμιλιῶν ἐκνόμων. ἐάν τε οὖν ἀνὴρ
ὀχεύῃ τετράπουν ἐάν τε γυνὴ ὑπὸ τετράποδος
ὀχεύηται, θνῃσκέτωσαν καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι. καὶ τὰ
τετράποδα, οἱ μὲν ὅτι ὑπὲρ τοὺς [ ὅρους ἀκρασίας
αὐτῆς ἤλασαν εὑρεταὶ γενόμενοι παρηλλαγμένων
ἐπιθυμιῶν καὶ ὁ ὅτι ἡδονὰς ἀηδεστάτας ἐκαινούργη-
σαν, ὧν καὶ ἡ διήγησις αἰσχίστη, τὰ δὲ ὅτι τοιού-
τοις ὀνείδεσιν ὑπηρέτησε καὶ ἵνα μηδὲν ἢ τέκῃ
“4 Lev. xix. 19, where the prohibition is joined with others
against sowing different seeds in a field and combining two
stuffs in a garment. Cf. Deut. xxii. 9-11.

» Mules, however, are several times mentioned, evidently

without reproach, in the O.T., e.g. Is. xvi. 20, 1 Kings i i. 88.
¢ See note ὃ on § 63 below.

504

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 46-40

admit no unlawful matings, that it ordains that even
cattle are not to be crossed with others of a different
species.? No Jewish shepherd will allow a he-goat to
mount a ewe or aram ἃ she-goat, or a bull a mare, or
if he does he will be punished as an offender against
the decree of nature, who is careful to preserve the
primary species without adulteration. It is true that 47
some people value mules above all other beasts of
burden, because their bodies are compact and ex-
ceedingly muscular, and accordingly in horse-stables
or other places where horses are kept they rear
donkeys of huge size to which they give the name of
““Celons ᾿᾿ to copulate with the female colts, who
then give birth to a hybrid animal, the mule or half-
ass. But Moses, recognizing that the way in which
this animal is produced contravenes nature, strin-
gently forbade it under the wider order by which he
refused permission for animals of either sex to breed
with those of an unlike species2 In making this 48
provision he considered what was in accord with
decency and conformity to nature, but beyond this he
gave us as from some far-off commanding height®¢ a
warning to men and women alike that they should
learn from these examples to abstain from unlawful
forms of intercourse. Whether, then, it is the man 49
who uses a quadruped for this purpose, or the woman
who allows herself to be used, the human offenders
must die and the beasts also; the first because they
have passed beyond the limits of licentiousness itself
by evolving abnormal lusts, and because they have
invented strange pleasures than which nothing could
be more unpleasing, shameful even to describe ; the
beasts because they have ministered to such infamies,
and to ensure that they do not. bear or beget any

505

PHILO

4 ᾽ὔ ’ @ > A 9 ’
ἢ γεννήσῃ παλίμφημον, οἷα εἰκὸς ἐκ τοιούτων
50 μιασμάτων: ἄλλως τε οἷς καὶ βραχὺ μέλει τοῦ
9 A
πρέποντος οὐκέτ᾽ ἂν χρήσαιντο τοῖς θρέμμασιν
εἰς οὐδεμίαν τῶν περὶ βίον ὑπηρεσίαν, μυσαττό-
μενοι καὶ ἀποστρεφόμενοι καὶ τὴν ὄψιν αὐτὴν
δυσχεραίνοντες καὶ νομίζοντες ὧν ἂν προσάψαιτο
κἀκεῖνα εὐθὺς ἀκάθαρτα εἶναι: τὰ δὲ μηδαμῇ
4 A ’ὕ A 9 \ λ Vii 3 3 Ss
χρήσιμα τῷ βίῳ ζῆν εἰ καὶ λυσιτελὲς ἀλλ᾽ οὖν
a Φ
περιττὸν “᾿ ἄχθος γῆς, ὡς εἶπέ τις.
51 ΙΧ. Πάλιν πόρνην ἡ κατὰ Μωυσῆν οὐ παρα-
δέχεται πολιτεία κοσμιότητος καὶ αἰδοῦς καὶ
, \ A ” 93 A 3 oy ἃ
σωφροσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἀλλοτρίαν, ἣ
ἀναπιμπλᾶσα τὰς ψυχὰς ἀνδρῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναικῶν
ἀκολασίας τὸ μὲν τῆς διανοίας ἀθάνατον κάλλος
A A A , 3
αἰσχύνει, τὴν δὲ τοῦ σώματος ὀλιγοχρόνιον εὐ-
μορφίαν προτιμᾷ, παραρριπτοῦσα μὲν αὑτὴν τοῖς
A A 9 4 A . A
ἐπιτυχοῦσι, τὴν δ᾽ ὥραν ὥσπερ TL τῶν ὠνίων ἐπ᾽
A 3 “A
ἀγορᾶς πιπράσκουσα, Kal ἐπὶ μὲν θήρᾳ τῶν νέων
4
ἕκαστα λέγει Te Kal πράττει, τοὺς δὲ ἐραστὰς
3 ’ A 3 ’ὔ 3 - 8 e€ A
ἀλείφει κατὰ ἀλλήλων αἴσχιστον᾽ ἄθλον αὑτὴν
προτιθεῖσα τοῖς τὸ πλέον εἰσενεγκοῦσιν. ὡς λύμη
’
καὶ ζημία καὶ κοινὸν μίασμα καταλευέσθω, τὰς
A ’ Ul
τῆς φύσεως διαφθείρασα χάριτας, ἃς ἥρμοττε
καλοκἀγαθίᾳ προσεπικοσμῆσαι.
&

1 Mangey reads (with A) οὐ ζῆν εἶναι λυσιτελές, περιττὸν ὄντα
γῆς ἄχθος (most ss. insert ὄντα). See note a.

@ The text as here translated makes some sort of sense, if
we take Avoirehkés=something that has a monetary value.
The text adopted by Mangey from A (see note 1), is much

506

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 49-51

monstrosity of the kind that may be expected to
spring from such abominations. Besides, even people 50
who care little for seemliness would not continue to
use their cattle for any purpose serviceable to their
life, but would regard them with abhorrence and
aversion, disliking the very sight of them and thinking
that even what they touch, that too must become un-
clean. And, when things serve no purpose in life,
their survival, even if it can be turnedto some
account,? is just a superfluity, ‘“‘ cumbering the earth,”
as the poet puts 1.

IX. Again, the commonwealth of Moses’ institution 51
does not admit a harlot,’ that stranger to decency and
modesty and temperance and the other virtues. She
infects the souls both of men and women with licen-
tiousness. She casts shame upon the undying beauty
of the mind and prefers in honour the short-lived
comeliness of the body. She flings herself at the
disposal of chance comers, and sells her bloom like
some ware to be purchased in the market. In her
every word and deed she aims at capturing the young,
while she incites her lovers each against the other by
offering the vile prize of herself to the highest bidder.
A pest, a scourge, a plague-spot to the public, let her
be stoned to death—she who has corrupted the graces
bestowed by nature, instead of making them, as she
should, the ornament of noble conduct.

clearer (the infinitive εἶναι may be defended as continuing the
construction after νομίζοντες). AS Mangey and A have it,
it omits ἀλλ᾽ οὖν, but this might be retained in the sense of
‘*nay indeed,” 1.6. the survival is not merely unprofitable,
but actually burdensome.

> See on i. 74.

¢ Deut. xxiii. 17, which, however, does not suggest death
as the penalty. See App. p. 634.

507

PHILO

ν᾿ : i a. \ 9
52 X. *Mowyxeias δὲ τὰς μὲν ἢ αὐτοφώρους ἢ ἐν-
αργέσιν ἐλέγχοις πιστουμένας ὑπαιτίους ἀπέφηνεν
4
ὁ νόμος, τὰς δὲ καθ᾽ ὑπόνοιαν οὐκ ἐδικαίωσεν
9 4 A 9 4 9 A 9 Α “--ὀ
ἐξετάζεσθαι πρὸς ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸ τῆς
’
φύσεως ἤγαγε δικαστήριον, ἐπειδήπερ ἄνθρωποι
μὲν τῶν ἐμφανῶν ἐπιγνώμονες, θεὸς δὲ καὶ τῶν
> ὃ A» 2 , ὃ \ \ 3 A 6 /
ἀδήλων, ᾧ μόνῳ δυνατὸν ψυχὴν ἐναργῶς θεάα-
δ8 σασθαι. φησὶν οὖν τῷ ὑπονοήσαντι ἀνδρί: γρα-
ψάμενος πρόκλησιν εἰς τὴν ἱερόπολιν ἴθι σὺν τῇ
γυναικὶ καὶ καταστὰς ἐπὶ τῶν δικαστῶν ἀπο-
“-Ἕ 4
γύμνωσον TO παραστάν σοι τῆς ὑπονοίας πάθος,
μὴ ὡς ἄν τις συκοφάντης ἢ κακοτεχνῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ
a 4 4 > 9 e 9 “-ς 9 4
πάντως περιγενέσθαι, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἄν τις τῆς ἀληθείας
9 A 9 A ” 4 e \ A
54 ἀκριβὴς ἐξεταστὴς ἄνευ σοφιστείας.. ἡ δὲ γυνὴ
4, 4 4 ~
δύο κινδύνους ὑπομένουσα, τὸν μὲν ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς,
\ \ 9 , , ἢ 9 y
[309] τὸν de | αἰσχύνης βίου, παντὸς ἀργαλεώτερον
θανάτου, κρινάτω παρ᾽ αὑτῇ τὸ πρᾶγμα, κἄν μὲν
καθαρεύῃ, θαρροῦσα ἀπολογείσθω, εἰ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ
συνειδότος ἐλέγχοιτο, καταδυέσθω, προκάλυμμα
τῶν. ἁμαρτημάτων αἰδῶ ποιησαμένη" τὸ γὰρ μέχρι
55 τέλους ἀναισχυντεῖν ὑπερβολὴ κακίας. ἐὰν δὲ
ἀμφήριστα ἣ ἢ τὰ λεχθέντα καὶ μηδέτερον καθέλκῃ
μέρος, ἴτωσαν εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, καὶ 6 μὲν ἀνὴρ στὰς
ἀντικρὺ τοῦ βωμοῦ, παρόντος τοῦ κατ᾽ ἐκείνην
A e e Ξ
τὴν ἡμέραν ἱερωμένου, δηλούτω τὴν ὑπόνοιαν, ἅμα
καὶ κομίζων ἄλευρον κρίθινον, εἶδός τι θυσίας
ὑπὲρ τῆς γυναικός, εἰς ἔνδειξιν τοῦ μὴ κατ᾽ ἐπ-
’ ~
ἤρειαν ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ γνώμης ὑγιοῦς κατ᾽ ἐνδοιασμὸν
1 vss. heading Περὶ μοιχαλίδος.
508

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 52-55

X. Adulteries detected on the spot or established by
clear evidence are condemned by the law. But when
they are a matter of suspicion, the law did not think
good to have them tried by men, but brought them
before the tribunal of nature. For men can arbitrate
on open. matters, but God on the hidden also, since

52

He alone can see clearly into the soul. “850 the 53

law says to the husband who suspects his wife,
‘Draw upa formal challenge and come to the
holy city with your .wife and standing before the
judges lay bare the suspicion which troubles you,
not in the spirit of a false accuser or malicious
schemer, set on winning at any cost, but of one
who would strictly test the truth without sophistry.
The woman who is threatened with two dangers,
one of losing her life, the other of bringing shame
on her past (and this is a thing far more grievous
than: death), must judge the matter in her heart,
and if she is pure, plead her cause with good
courage, but if her conscience convicts her, make
her submission and use her ashamedness to palliate
her sins. For shamelessness carried to the end is the
culmination of wickedness. But if the statements
of the two are inconclusive, and do not turn the
scale to either side, let them go to the temple and
let the man standing opposite the altar, in the
presence of the priest officiating on that day,
explain his suspicion. At the same time he should
bring barley-meal, as a kind of sacrifice on behalf
of the woman, to shew that the accusation is not
made in wanton spite, but with honest intentions

a For §§ 53-62 see Num. v. 12-31, which Philo follows
fairly closely, except that the law does not provide for a
previous hearing before judges as in §§ 53, 54.

509

55

56

57

58

59

PHILO

εὔλογον αἰτιᾶσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς λαβὼν προτεινέτω
τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τοὐπίκρανον ἀφελών, iv” ἐπικρίνηται
γεγυμνωμένῃ τῇ κεφαλῇ, τὸ τῆς αἰδοῦς περιῃρη-
μένη σύμβολον, ᾧ ταῖς εἰς, ἅπαν ἀναιτίοις ἔθος
χρῆσθαι. μήτε δὲ ἔλαιον μήτε λιβανωτὸς ὡς ἐπὶ
τῶν ἄλλων θυσιῶν παρέστω, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπὶ χαρτοῖς
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγαν ὀδυνηροῖς τὴν θυσίαν μέλλειν ἐπι-
τελεῖσθαι. κρίθινον δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ ἄλευρον, ἴσως
ἐπειδὴ ὑπαμφίβολός ἐστιν ἡ ἀπὸ κριθῆς τροφὴ
καὶ ἀλόγοις ζῴοις καὶ ἀτυχέσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐφ-
αρμόζεται," σύμβολον τοῦ τὴν μεμοιχευμένην οὐδὲν
θηρίων διαφέρειν, ὧν ἀδιακρίτους εἶναι καὶ ἀν-
επιστάτους τὰς ὀχείας συμβέβηκε, τὴν δὲ καθ-
αρεύουσαν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀνθρώπων
βίον ἐζηλωκέναι. λαβὼν δέ, φησίν, ὁ ἱερεὺς
κεραμεοῦν ἀγγεῖον ἐγχείτω καθαρὸν ὕδωρ ἐκ
πηγῆς ἀρυσάμενος καὶ ἐπιφερέτω βῶλον γῆς ἐκ
τοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐδάφους" ἅπερ οἶμαι καὶ αὐτὰ
συντείνειν πρὸς τὴν ἔρευναν τῆς ἀληθείας διὰ συμ-
βόλων, τὸ μὲν κεραμεοῦν ἀγγεῖον πρὸς τὸ μεμοι-
χεῦσθαι, διὰ τὸ εὐκάτακτον, θάνατος γὰρ ἡ κατὰ
μοιχῶν δίκη, ἡ δὲ γῆ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ πρὸς τὸ καθ-
αρεύειν τῆς αἰτίας, ἐπειδὴ δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων at
γενέσεις καὶ αὐξήσεις καὶ τελειώσεις ἁπάντων.
ὅθεν ἑκάτερον οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν

1 mss. ἐφαρμόζεσθαι.

α By εἶδος he may mean that this oblation, though called
θυσία in the text, is not of the ordinary kind. In the E.V.
the words are “ he shall bring her offering for her’’; in Lxx
“he shall bring the (or “‘his’’) gift about her.” As he
regards the oblation as made by the man and not by the
woman, he appends this explanation of his motives.

510

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 56-59

and is founded on reasonable doubt.* The priest 56
taking the offering hands it to the woman and
removes her kerchief, in order that she may be
judged with her head bared and stripped of the
symbol of modesty, regularly worn by women who are
wholly innocent. But there must be no oil nor frankin-
cense, as in the other sacrifices, because the intention
of the sacrifice to be performed on this occasion is
not joyful but exceedingly painful. The meal used 57
is of barley, perhaps because as a foodstuff it is of
somewhat doubtful merit, suited for irrational animals
and men in unhappy circumstances, and thus is a
symbol that the adulteress is quite on a par with wild
beasts, which copulate without discrimination or due
consideration, while the wife who is innocent of the
charges brought against her has emulated the life
which is fitted to human beings. The priest, it 58
continues, will take an earthen vessel, pour into it
pure water which he has drawn from a spring, and
put in a clod of earth got from the ground on which
the temple stands. These likewise, I consider, refer
symbolically to the quest for the truth. The act of
adultery is signified by the earthen vessel because
of its fragility, since death is the punishment decreed
for adulterers ; innocence of the charge by the earth
and water, since both these are factors in the birth
and growth and consummation of all things. And 59
therefore the terms used in both cases make an

> In Numbers the reason of the absence of oil and frank-
incense is that ‘‘it is a sacrifice of jealousy, a sacrifice of
memorial calling sin to remembrance,’’ which assumes the
guilt of the accused more than Philo is willing to do.

¢ Or “on the floor of the temple.’ txx, “‘the earth,”
ΕΝ. ‘‘ the dust.”’

511

PHILO

_ 3
ἐπεκόσμησε, τὸ μὲν ὕδωρ. εἰπὼν δεῖν “" καθαρὸν ᾿
λαμβάνειν καὶ “Cav,” ἐπεὶ ἀνυπαίτιος ἡ γυνὴ
καθαρεύει τὸν βίον καὶ ζῆν ὀφείλει, τὴν δὲ γῆν

3 > A aA ’ 9 > 9 A ma ¢ a 3? 4
οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐδάφους,
7 aA A A
ὅπερ ἀναγκαῖον ἀρετᾶν, ws Kal γυναῖκα τὴν

, , \ , e .\
60 σώφρονα. τούτων δὲ προευτρεπισθέντων, ἡ μὲν

61

[310]

62

ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ τὸ κρίθινον ἄλευρον
κομίζουσα, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη, παρίτω, ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς
[ἀντικρὺ] τὸ κεραμεοῦν ἀγγεῖον, ἐν ᾧ ὕδωρ ἐστὶ
καὶ γῆ, (ἀντικρὺ, στὰς ᾿ἐπιλεγέτω τάδε" “εἰ μὲν
τοὺς ἐπὶ γάμοις θεσμοὺς οὐ παραβέβηκας οὐδ᾽
ἀνὴρ ἕτερος ὡμίλησέ σοι καθυφεμένῃ τὰ πρὸς τὸν
| νόμῳ" συνοικισθέντα δίκαια, ἀνυπαίτιος καὶ ἀθῷος
ἴσθι: εἰ δ᾽ ὠλιγώρησας μὲν ἀνδρὸς καινὰς δὲ
ἐζήλωσας" ἐπιθυμίας ἢ ἐρασ' cioa ἢ ἐρασθέντι
ἐνδοῦσα, τὰ ἀναγκαιότατα καὶ φίλτατα προδοῦσα
καὶ νοθεύσασα, μὴ ἀγνόει πάσαις ἀραῖς ἔνοχος
γεγενημένη, ὧν τὰ δείγματα ἀναφανεῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ
σώματος. ἴθι δὴ ἔκπινε ποτὸν ἐλέγχου, ὃ τὰ
κεκρυμμένα νῦν καὶ ἀδηλούμενα ᾿ἀπαμφιάσει καὶ
ἀπογυμνώσει.᾽" ταῦτα γράψας ἐν χαρτιδίῳ καὶ
ἀπαλείψας τῷ κατὰ τὸ ἀγγεῖον ὕδατι προτεινέτω
τῇ γυναικί: ἡ δὲ πιοῦσα ἀπαλλαττέσθω προσ-
δοκῶσα 7 σωφροσύνης ἄθλον ἢ ἀκολασίας τὴν
ἀνωτάτω τιμωρίαν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ σεσυκοφάντηται,
σπορὰν καὶ γένεσιν τέκνων ἐλπιζέτω τῶν ἐπὶ

1 MSS. νόμον. 2 mss. ζηλώσασα.

4 So txx. E.V. and Hebrew merely “holy.” In Num.
xix. 17, where the E.V. has “running water,” the 1xx has
Cav.

> So, as the sequel shews, rather than “‘ conviction,” though

512

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 59-62

appropriate addition to the picture. The water, it
says, must be taken “ pure ”’ and “ living,’’@ since if
the woman is guiltless her conduct is “ pure” and
she deserves to “‘ live’’; the earth is taken not from
any chance place but from the “ holy ᾿᾿ ground, which
must needs be capable of fertility, as also must the
chaste wife. When these preliminaries are completed, 60
the woman is to come forward with her head un-
covered, bringing the barley-meal, as has been said,
and the priest holding the earthen vessel with the
earth and water in it stands fronting her and pro-
nounces as follows: “ If thou hast not transgressed 61
the lawful usages of marriage, if no other man has had
intercourse with thee, suffered by thee in abandon-
ment of thy duties to the legitimate partner of thy
home, be clear of guilt and its consequences. But if
thou hast set at naught thy husband and eagerly
gratified thy new desires, seized with love for another
or surrendering to his love, betraying and debasing
the closest and fondest ties, be well assured that thou
hast laid thyself open to every curse, and the signs of
their fulfilment thou wilt exhibit in thy body. Come
then, drink the draught of testing ® which will uncover
and lay bare what is now hidden in secrecy.’”’ He will 62
then write these words on a piece of paper and after
blotting them out in the water in the vessel, proffer
it to the woman, and when she has drunk she will
depart expecting either reward for her chastity or
extreme punishment for her incontinence. For if she
has been falsely accused she may hope to conceive
and bear children and pay no heed to her fears and

that is the meaning of the txx ἐλεγμοῦ followed by “that
brings the curse.” E.V. “ the water of bitterness that causeth

the curse.’’
VOL. VII 2L 513

PHILO

στειρώσει καὶ ayovia φόβων καὶ φροντίδων a-
λογοῦσα: εἰ δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἔνοχος, ἐφεδρεύσοντα ἴστω
γαστρὸς ὄγκον οἰδούσης καὶ πιμπραμένης καὶ τῶν
περὶ μήτραν δεινὴν κάκωσιν, ἣν καθαρὰν οὐκ
ἠξίωσε διατηρεῖν ἀνδρὶ τῷ κατὰ πάτρια γήμαντι.

θ8 τοσαύτην δ᾽ ἔχει πρόνοιαν ὁ νόμος τοῦ μηδὲν ἐπὶ
γάμοις νεωτερίζεσθαι, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς συνιόντας
εἰς ὁμιλίαν avdpas καὶ γυναῖκας κατὰ τοὺς ἐπὶ
γάμοις θεσμούς, ὅταν εὐνῆς ἀπαλλάττωνται, οὐ
πρότερον ἐᾷ τινος ψαύειν ἢ λουτροῖς καὶ περιρραν-
τηρίοις χρῆσθαι, πόρρωθεν μοιχείας ἀνείργων καὶ
τῶν ἐπὶ μοιχείαις ἐγκληματων.

64 ΧΙ. ᾿Ἐὰν δέ τις χήραν ἀποθανόντος ἀνδρὸς ἢ ἢ καὶ
διαξευχθεῖσαν ἄλλως βιασάμενος αἰσχύνῃ, κουφό-
τερον ἢ κατὰ μοιχείαν ἁμάρτημα δρῶν, ἥμισυ
σχεδὸν ἐκείνου, τῆς μὲν θανάτου τιμωρίας a είσθω,
βίαν δὲ καὶ ὕβριν καὶ ἀκολασίαν καὶ θράσος τὰ
αἴσχιστα ὡς κάλλιστα ἀποδεξάμενος κατηγορείσθω
καὶ ὅ τι χρὴ παθεῖν ἢ ἀποτῖσαι τιμάτω" τὸ δικα-

’ > 9 A
στήριον ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ.

65 *’AdeAdov μὲν καὶ συγγενὲς ἀδίκημα μοιχείας
φθορά, καθάπερ ἐκ μητρὸς μιᾶς, ἀκολασίας, φύνταἥ"

1 mss. τιμάσθω. 2 ms. heading Περὶ φθορᾶς.

8 For the solecism φύντα Mangey suggests φῦσα, but this
does not suit μιᾶς.

@ Lev. xv. 18.

> Lit. “forbidding from afar.””» The same word (or
μακρόθεν) is used in the same way ὃ 47 above, and again
§§ 48, 117. Cf. also iv. 104, De Virt. 137.

¢ Philo neither has nor claims any biblical authority for
this section. He is about to describe the pentateuchal law
about the rape or seduction. of a virgin, and feels that the
similar offence in the case of a married woman who is now
without a husband must call for punishment or redress.
Whether what he says reflects the practice of his time (see

514

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 62-65

apprehensions of sterility or childlessness. But if she
is guilty she may be sure that the fate awaiting her
is an unwieldy belly, swollen and inflamed, and
terrible suffering all round the womb, which she has .
not cared to keep pure for the husband who married
her according to ancestral custom. So careful is the 63
law to provide against the introduction of violent,
changes in the institution of marriage that a husband
and wife, who have intercourse in accordance with
the legitimate usages of married life, are not allowed,
when they leave their bed, to touch anything until
they have made their ablutions and purged them-
selves with water.“ This ordinance extends by im-
plication to a prohibition® of adultery, or anything
which entails an accusation of adultery.

XI. If anyone dishonours by violence a woman 64
widowed by the death of her husband or through.
any other form of separation, the crime he commits is
less serious than in adultery, of which it may be said
to be the half.¢ The penalty of death should not be
enforced in his case: but since he has accepted as
highly honourable such vile things as violence, out-
rage, incontinence and effrontery, he must be indicted
and the court must determine for him the penalty he
should suffer or the compensation he should pay.

The corruption? of a maiden is a criminal offence 65
closely akin to adultery, its brother in fact, for both
spring as it were from one mother, licentiousness, to

Goodenough, p. 90), or merely what he feels would be right,
seems to me quite uncertain.

4 Ex. xxii. 16, 17; Deut. xxii. 28, 29. The first passage
deals rather with seduction (“ entice,” ἀπατήσας) : the second
with rape (“lay hold on her,” βιασάμενος). The right of the
father to refuse his consent to the marriage does not appear
in the second passage.

515

PHILO

ἣν ἔνιοι τῶν εἰωθότων εὐπρεπέσιν ὀνόμασι τὰ
αἰσχρὰ ἐπικοσμεῖν ἔρωτα ὀνομάζουσι τἀληθὲς
ὁμολογεῖν ἐρυθριῶντες. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως, εἰ καὶ συγ-
γενές, οὐ παντάπασιν͵ ὅμοιον, τῷ τὸ ἀδίκημα μὴ
εἰς πλείους χωρεῖν οἰκίας, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς μοιχείας
συμβέβηκεν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς μίαν συνῆχθαι τὴν τῆς
66 παρθένου. λεκτέον οὖν τῷ κόρης ἀστῆς ἐπι-
θυμοῦντι" ‘ προπέτειαν καὶ θράσος ἀναίσχυντον
ἢ τὰς ἐπ᾽ ἐνέδρᾳ πάγας 7 τι TOV ὁμοιοτρόπων, ὦ
[311] | οὗτος, ἀποστραφεὶς μήτε ἀναφανδὸν μήτε λάθρα
67 πονηρὸς ἐξετασθ fis- ἀλλ᾽ εἴπερ ἄρα τι τῇ ψυχῇ
πέπονθας πρὸς τὴν παῖδα οἰκεῖον, ἴθι πρὸς τοὺς
γονεῖς αὐτῆς, ἐὰν ζῶντες τυγχάνωσιν, εἰ δὲ “μή,
πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἢ ἢ ἐπιτρόπους ἣ ἄλλους κυρίους,
καὶ ἀπογυμνώσας τὸ σεαυτοῦ πάθος, ὡς χρὴ τὸν
ἐλεύθερον, αἴτει πρὸς γάμον καὶ παρακάλει. μὴ
68 ἀνάξιος νομισθῆναι. σκαιὸς γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἂν οὕτως
γένοιτο τῶν ἐπιμελουμένων τῆς παιδός, ὡς ἐν-
αντιωθῆναι πρὸς λιπαρεστέρας δεήσεις, καὶ μάλιστά
γε ἐπειδὰν ἐξετάσας ἀνευρίσκῃ μὴ κατεψευσμένον

) ἐπιπόλαιον ἄλλως τὸ πάθος ἀλλ᾽ ἐπαληθεῦον καὶ

69 παγίως ἐνιδρυμένον.᾽᾽ ἐὰν δέ τις λυττῶν καὶ
μεμηνώς, ἅπασι τοῖς ἐκ λογισμοῦ πολλὰ χαίρειν
φράσας, δυναστείαν τὸν οἶστρον καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν
ὑπολαβών, νόμου βίαν, ‘ws φασί τινες, προτιμοτέραν
θέμενος, ἁρπάζῃ καὶ φθείρῃ ταῖς ἐλευθέραις ὡς
θεραπαίναις χρώμενος, τὰ πολέμου δρῶν ἐ ἐν εἰρήνῃ,
70 πρὸς τοὺς δικαστὰς ἀγέσθω. κἂν μὲν ἧ πατὴρ
τῇ βιασθείσῃ, βουλευέσθω περὶ ἐγγύης τῆς πρὸς

τὸν ἐφθαρκότα' εἶτα ἐὰν μὲν ἀνανεύῃ, προικιζέτω

1 MSS. περὶ.

516

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 65-70

which some whose way it is to bedizen ugly things
with specious terms, ashamed to admit its true nature,
give the name of love. Still the kinship does not
amount to complete similarity, because the wrong
caused by the corruption is not passed on to several
families as it is with adultery, but is concentrated in
one, that of the maiden herself. Our advice then to 66
one who desires a damsel of gentle birth should be
this : ““ My good sir, have nothing to do with reckless
and shameless effrontery or treacherous snares, or
anything of the kind, and do not either openly or
secretly prove yourself a rascal. But if you have, 67
heart and soul, centred your affections on the girl,
go to her parents, if they are alive, or, if not, to her
brothers or guardians or others who have charge of
her, lay bare before them the state of your affections,
as a free man should, ask her hand in marriage and
plead that you may not be thought unworthy of her.
For none of those who have had the care of the girl 68
would behave so stupidly as to set himself in opposi-
tion to the increasing earnestness of your entreaties,
particularly if, on examination, he finds that your
affections are not counterfeited nor superficial, but are
genuine and firmly established.” But if anyone in 69
furious frenzy will have nothing to say to the sug-
gestions of reason, but regarding wild passion and
lust as sovereign powers and giving the place of
honour to violence above law, as the saying goes,
turns to rapine and ravishment and treats free
women as though they were servant-maids, acting in
peace as he might in war-time, he must be brought
before the judges. And if the victim of the violation 70
has a father he must consider the question of espous-
ing her to the author of her ruin. If he refuses, the

517

ΡΗΠΟ

τὴν παῖδα ὃ φθορεὺς ἄλλως ζημιούμενος χρήμασιν,
ἐὰν δὲ συναινῇ Kat’ συνεπιγράφηται, μηδὲν ὑπερ-
τιθέμενος ἀγέσθω προῖκα πάλιν τὴν ἴσην ὁμολογῶν
καὶ μήτε ἀναδύεσθαι τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐχέτω [ANTE
παραιτεῖσθαι, καὶ δι᾿ αὐτόν, ἵνα μὴ λαγνείας ἕνεκα
δοκῇ μᾶλλον ἢ κατ᾽ ἔρωτα νόμιμον ἐφθαρκέναι,
καὶ διὰ τὴν κόρην, ἵν᾽ αὐτῆς τὸ περὶ τὴν πρώτην
σύνοδον ἀτύχημα παρηγορηθῇ βεβαιοτάτῳ γάμῳ ;

71 ov ovdev ἄλλο τι ἢ θάνατος διαζεύξει. ἐὰν δὲ
πατρὸς ὀρφανὴ τυγχάνῃ, “πρὸς τῶν δικαστῶν
ἐρωτάσθω, εἴτε οὔλεται συνοικεῖν εἴτε μή" ἐάν
τε δὲ συναινῇ ἐάν τε ἀρνῆται, τὰ αὐτὰ γινέσθω ἃ
ἂν καὶ ἐπὶ ζῶντι διωμολογήθη τῷ πατρί.

2 XII. 'Μεθόριόν τινες ὑπολαμβάνουσιν. ἀδίκημα
εἶναι φθορᾶς καὶ μοιχείας ὑπογάμιον, ὅταν ὁμο-
ογίαι μὲν ὑπερεγγυήσωσι, μήπω δὲ τῶν γάμων
ἐπιτελεσθέντων ἕ ἕτερος ἀπατήσας τις ἢ καὶ βιασά-
μενος εἰς ὁμιλίαν ἔλθῃ. παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ δὲ κριτῇ μοιχείας
καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν εἶδος" at γὰρ ὁμολογίαι γάμοις
ἰσοδυναμοῦσιν, αἷς ἀνδρὸς ὄνομα καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ

1 us. heading Περὶ ὑπογαμίου.

@ Or perhaps “‘ to dismiss.her’”’ (at a later time). Cf. the
examples of παραιτεῖσθαι in the sense of “ divorce” in L. & S.
This will correspond with Deuteronomy, “‘he may not put
her away all his days,” as well as with Philo’s words at the
end of the section. ᾿.

ὃ Philo has no biblical authority for this section. It is
curious that the guardians whose consent has to be obtained
for the ordinary marriage of an orphan do not appear here.

© For §§ 72-78 see Deut. xxil. 23-27.

4 The curious word ὑπογάμιον occurs only here. The sug-
gestion in the translation is that it, is formed on the analogy
of the not uncommon use of j7é6=“‘just before.”” But except

518

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 70-72

seducer must give a dowry to the girl, his punishment
being thus limited to a monetary fine, but if the father
consents to the union, he must marry her without any
delay and agree to give the same dowry as inthe former
case, and he must not be at liberty to draw back, or to
make difficulties.* This is in the interest both of him-
self, to make the rape appear due to legitimate love
rather than to lasciviousness, and of the girl, to give
her for the misfortune, which she has suffered at their
first association, the consolation of a wedlock so firmly
established that nothing but death will undo it. °If 71
she has lost her father, she must be asked by the
judges whether she wishes to consort with the man or
not. And whether she agrees or refuses, the terms
agreed upon must be the same as they would have
been if her father were alive.

XII. *Some consider that midway between the cor- 72
ruption of a maiden and adultery stands the crime
committed on the eve of marriage,? when mutual
agreements have affianced the parties beyond all
doubt, but before the marriage was celebrated,
another man, either by seduction or violence, has
intercourse with the bride. But this too, to my
thinking, is a form of adultery. For the agree-
ments, being documents containing the names of
the man and woman, and the other particulars

for the epic adjectives ὑπηοῖος and ὑποδείελος, I cannot find
any analogous compounds. However, ὑπὸ γάμον would be
an easy correction. The general opinion seems to be that
the ὑπό suggests “‘secret’’ or “‘ illicit,”” and presumably this
is the idea in Mangey’s “interceptus concubitus,’’ and
L. & S.’s “ illicit intercourse with a betrothed person.”’ Also
the word seems to be regularly regarded as a substantive.
It seems to me more likely that it is an adjective agreeing
with ἀδίκημα.

519

PHILO

73 τὰ ἄλλα τὰ ἐπὶ συνόδοις ἐγγράφεται. ὧν χάριν
᾿καταλεύειν ὁ νόμος ἀμφοτέρους προσέταξεν, ἐάν
γε ἀπὸ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης. ἐπιθῶνται τοῖς
ἀδικήμασι συμφρονήσαντες" οὐχ οἷόν τε γὰρ μὴ
ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ὁρμηθέντας βουλευμάτων νομίζεσθαι

74 συναδικεῖν, οὐ συναδικοῦντας. παρὰ γοῦν τὰς

[312] τῶν τόπων διαφορὰς | αὔξεσθαι συμβέβηκε καὶ
μειοῦσθαι τἀδίκημα" μεῖζον μὲν γάρ, ὡς εἰκός,
ἐστίν, εἰ πραχθείη κατὰ πόλιν, ἔλαττον δέ, εἰ
τειχῶν ἔξω κατ᾽ ἐρημίαν: ἐνταῦθα μὲν γὰρ βοηθὸς
οὐδὲ εἷς ἐστι τῇ παιδὶ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα ὑπὲρ τοῦ δια-
τηρῆσαι τὴν παρθενίαν ἄψαυστον καὶ ἀνεπι-
βούλευτον λεγούσῃ τε καὶ δρώσῃ, ἐν ἄστει δὲ
βουλευτήρια, δικαστήρια, στρατηγῶν, ἀγορανόμων,
ἀστυνόμων, ἄλλων ἀρχόντων ὅμιλοι μεγάλοι καὶ

75 σὺν τούτοις ὁ δῆμος. ἔστι γὰρ ἔστιν ἐν ἑκάστου
τῇ ψυχῇ, κἂν ἰδιώτης τυγχάνῃ, μισοπόνηρον πάθος,
ὃ διακινηθὲν ἀποδείκνυσι τὸν ἔχοντα κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον
τὸν χρόνον ὑπέρμαχον καὶ προαγωνιστὴν avTo-

76 κέλευστον τοῦ δόξαντος ἠδικῆσθαι. XIII. τῷ μὲν
οὖν διαπραξαμένῳ τὴν βίαν ἕπεται δίκη πανταχοῦ,
μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς τῶν χωρίων διαφορᾶς εὑρισκομένῳ
πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν ὧν ὕβρισε καὶ παρηνόμησε: τῇ
δὲ παιδί, καθάπερ ἔφην, τοτὲ μὲν ἔλεος καὶ
συγγνώμη τοτὲ δὲ ἀπαραίτητος τιμωρία παρ-

77 ακολουθήσει. καὶ περὶ ταύτης μέντοι πολυπραγ-
μονητέον τῷ δικαστῇ μὴ πάντ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς τόπους
ἀναφέροντι" δύναται yap καὶ κατὰ μέσην τὴν πόλιν

@ Deuteronomy makes no suggestion of a documentary form
of betrothal, though it speaks of a “‘bill of divorcement”’
(xxiv. 3). But Philo naturally reads into it the practice of his
own time. See App. pp. 634-635.

520

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 72-77

needed for wedlock, are equivalent to marriage.*
And therefore the law ordains that both should 73
be stoned to death, if, that is, they set about
their misdeeds by mutual agreement with one and
the same purpose. For if they were not actuated
by the same purpose, they cannot be regarded as
fellow-criminals, where there was no such fellowship.
Thus we find that difference of situation makes the 74
criminality greater or less. Naturally it is greater if
the act is committed in the city and less if it is com-
mitted outside the walls and in a solitude. For here
there is no one to help the girl, though she says and
does everything possible to keep her virginity intact
and invulnerable, while in the town there are council-
chambers and law-courts, crowds of controllers of
districts,2> markets and wards, and other persons in
authority and with them the common people. For 75
assuredly there is in the soul of every man, however
undistinguished he may be, a detestation of evil, and -
if this emotion is roused, no outside influence is then
needed to turn its possessor into a champion ready to
do battle for anyone who to all appearance has been
wronged. XIII. As for the man who perpetrated the 76
violation, Justice pursues him everywhere, and differ-
ence of situation lends him no help to make good
his outrageous and lawless conduct. It is not so
with the girl. In the one case pity and forgiveness
attend her, as I have said, in the other inexorable
punishment. And indeed her position demands care- 77
ful inquiry from the judge who must not make every-
thing turn upon the scene of the act. For she may
have been forced against her will in the heart of the

> Or ‘“Snomes.”? See oni. 55.

52]

PHILO

ἄκουσα βεβιάσθαι καὶ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἑκοῦσα
πρὸς ἔκθεσμον ὁμιλίαν ἐνδοῦναι. διὸ παρατετηρη-
μένως καὶ σφόδρα καλῶς ἀπολογούμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς
ἐν ἐρημίᾳ φθειρομένης φησὶν ὁ νόμος" “ ἐβόησεν
ἡ νεᾶνις, καὶ ὁ βοηθήσων οὐκ ἦν αὐτῇ, ὥστε, εἰ
μήτε ἐβόησε μήτε ἠναντιώθη, βουλομένη δὲ
συναπῆρε, γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἔνοχος, σόφισμα τοῦ βεβιάσθαι
18 δοκεῖν προστησαμένη τὸν τόπον. καὶ μὴν ἐν πόλει
τί γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ὄφελος τῇ πάντα μὲν ἐθελούσῃ ποιεῖν
ὑπὲρ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιτιμίας, ἀδυνατούσῃ δὲ ἕνεκα τῆς
περὶ τὸν ὑβριστὴν ἰσχύος; τί γάρ, εἰ μετὰ τῶν
ἄλλων' καταδήσειεν ἢ τὸ στόμα ἀποφράξειεν, ὡς
μηδὲ φωνὴν ῥῆξαι δύνασθαι, γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ὄφελος ἐκ
τῶν συνοικούντων; τρόπον γάρ τινα ἥδε μὲν ἐν
πόλει διατρίβουσα κατ᾽ ἐρημίαν ἐστὶν ἅτε βοηθῶν
ἔρημος, ἡ δέ, κἂν μηδεὶς παρατυγχάνῃ, τῷ ἑκοῦσα
- συναπᾶραι "λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν οὐδὲν διαφέρειν τῆς ἐν
ἄστει. |
79 XIV. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες περὶ tas ὁμιλίας ἁψίκοροι,
γυναϊκομανεῖς ἐν ταὐτῷ καὶ μισογύναιοι, συγ-
1 Some mss. μετὰ τῶν κάλων, which Mangey adopted,
translating “‘cum funibus.’’ But such a use of μετά seems

hardly possible. Cohn at first suggested μετάζγων ἄποθεν»
τῶν. But see note a.

@ Lit. ‘‘ the others,” ὁὅ.6. those others whose help would be
required to bind and gag her before she could cry out.
Perhaps, however, τῶν ἀλλωνῚὶ is neuter, 1.6. ** besides the rest
of his violence”; translate, ‘‘if he further proceeds to bind
her.” Cohn, who originally suggested the correction men-
tioned in note 1, came to the conclusion (Hermes, 1908,

p. 205) that this ‘solution was satisfactory. He compares
De Dec. 69.

522

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 77-79

city, and she may have surrendered voluntarily to
unlawful embraces outside the city. And therefore
the law in defending the case of a woman deflowered
in a solitude is careful to add the very excellent
proviso: “ The damsel cried out and there was
none to help her ;”’ so that if she neither cried out
nor resisted but co-operated willingly, she will be
found guilty, and her use of the place as an excuse is
merely a device to make it seem that she was forced.
Again what help would be available in the city to one 78
who was willing to use all possible means to protect
her personal honour, but was unable to do so because
of the strength which the ravisher could bring to
bear? If he should bind her with the help of others?
and gag her mouth so that she could not utter a sound,
what help could she get from the neighbours? In a
sense such a one, though living in a city, is in a
solitude, being solitary so far as helpers are concerned.
The other, even if no one was present to help, may
be said, in view of her willing cooperation, to be
in exactly the same position as the offender in the
town.
XIV. ® There are some persons who show fickleness 79

in their relations to women, mad for them and loath-

>’ For §§ 79-83 see Deut. xxii. 13-21. Philo’s account
makes no mention of the “tokens of virginity.”” Also there
is no allusion to the order that if the case is given against
the wife she is to be stoned. This is perhaps because the
real subject of these sections is the misconduct of husbands
who make treacherous attempts to get rid of unwanted wives.
Still, the omission is curious. Apart from the concealment,
the misconduct of the woman is not, or need not be, ὑπογάμιον,
and falls under the head of φθορά, which Philo has treated as
an ἀτύχημα to the maiden rather than a crime (§ 70). One
would expect an explanation of why the extreme penalty was

required.

523

80

[318]

PHILO

4 \ 4 9QA > + Δ aA 4
κλύδων καὶ μιγάδων ἠθῶν ἀνάπλεῳ, ot Tats πρώταις
εὐθὺς ὁρμαῖς ἐνδιδόντες, ὁποῖαί περ ἂν οὖσαι

a IA
τυγχάνωσιν, ἃς ἡνιοχεῖν δέον ἀχαλινώτους ἐῶσιν,
ἀπερισκέπτως καὶ ἀπροοράτως σώμασιν ὁμοῦ καὶ

4 A / 4
πράγμασιν ἐπεμπίπτοντες τυφλῶν τρόπον, ἅτε ῥύμῃ
καὶ φορᾷ βιαίῳ συνωθοῦντες καὶ ἀνατρέποντες, οὐκ
9 ζυ a
ἐλάττω ὧν διατιθέασι πάσχουσι. περὶ ὧν τάδε
νομοθετεῖται" κόρας ot ἀγόμενοι νόμῳ καὶ γάμους
θύσαντές τε καὶ ἑστιαθέντες, μηδὲν οἰκεῖον ἐπὶ

aA a 4 ’ > 3 € ’
ταῖς γαμεταῖς πάθος σῴζοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὑβρίσαντες |
καὶ ὡς ἑταίραις ταῖς ἀσταῖς προσενεχθέντες, ἐὰν

4 ’ὔ ’ > “- 4
διάζευξιν τεχνάζωσι μηδεμίαν ἀπαλλαγῆς πρόφασιν
> A
ἀνευρίσκοντες, εἶτ᾽ ἐπὶ τὸ συκοφαντεῖν τραπόμενοι
σπάνει φανερῶν ἐγκλημάτων πρὸς τὰ ἀφανῆ

4 “4 “A
τρέπωσι τὰς αἰτίας καὶ παρελθόντες κατηγορῶσιν,
ὅτι παρθένοις δόξαντες συνεληλυθέναι γυναῖκας ἐν

A 4 e 4 3 ’ > 4 A e
ταῖς πρώταις ὁμιλίαις ἐφώρασαν, ἀθροιζέσθω μὲν ἡ
γερουσία πᾶσα πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν, παρίτωσαν δὲ οἱ

~ aA \
“τῶν κατηγορουμένων γονεῖς ἀπολογησόμενοι περὶ

81

κοινοῦ κινδύνου. κίνδυνος yap οὐ ταῖς θυγατράσι
μόνον περὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων ἁγνείας ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ
καὶ τοῖς ἐπιμεληταῖς, οὐ μόνον ὅτι εἰς τὸν ἀναγ-
καιότατον τῆς ἀκμῆς καιρὸν οὐ παρετήρησαν, ἀλλ᾽
φ \ e 4 \ eyo ¢ +; 3 4
ὅτι Kal ws παρθένους τὰς ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρων ἐφθαρμένας
* The causal clause introduced by ἅτε may look forward
and give the reason why they suffer as they have done to
others. It seems to me better to take it as looking back-
wards and giving the reason why they stumble over every-

thing. For σώματα καὶ πράγματα see note on Quis Rerum 242
(vol. iv. p. 573).

524

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 79-81

ing them at the same time, each of them a mass of
chaotic and promiscuous characteristics. They give
way in a moment to their first impulses of any and
every kind and let them go unbridled instead of
reining them in as they should. They run about
wildly and violently, pushing about and upsetting
everything material or immaterial, with the result
that like blind men without eyes to see before or
around they tumble over them and suffer in the
same measure as they have meted.* For these 80
people the law lays down as follows: In the case
of persons who take maidens in lawful matrimony
and have celebrated the bridal sacrifices and feasts,
but retain no conjugal? affection for their wives,
and insult and treat these gentlewomen as if they
were harlots—if such persons scheme to effect a
_ separation, but finding no pretext for divorce resort
to false accusation and through lack of matters of
open daylight shift the charges to secret intimacies
and bring forward an incriminating statement that
the virgins whom they supposed they had married
were discovered by them, when they first came
together, to have lost their virginity already—then
the whole body of elders will assemble to try the
matter and the parents will appear to plead the cause
in which all are endangered. For the danger affects 81
not only the daughters whose bodily chastity is
impugned, but also their guardians, against whom the
charge is brought not only that they failed to watch
over them at the most critical period of adolescence,
but that the brides they had given as virgins had been
dishonoured by other men, and thereby the bride-

> 2,6. suitable to the intimate relation. Cf. the use of οἰκεῖον
πάσχειν, ὃ 67.
7 525

PHILO

ἐνεγύησαν ἀπατῶντες καὶ φενακίζοντες τοὺς λαμ-

82 βάνοντας. εἶτα ἐὰν περιγένωνται τοῖς δικαίοις,
τιμάτωσαν οἵ δικασταὶ κατὰ τῶν ψευδεῖς αἰτίας
πλαττομένων χρημάτων ζημίας καὶ τὰς διὰ πληγῶν
εἰς τὰ σώματα ὕβρεις καὶ ---τὸ πάντων ἐκείνοις
ἀηδέστατον--τὴν τῶν γάμων βεβαίωσιν, ἐὰν ὑπο-
μένωσιν αἱ γυναῖκες ἔτι τοῖς τοιούτοις συνοικεῖν"
ταῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐφίησιν ὁ νόμος θελούσαις καὶ μένειν
καὶ ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ οὐδετέρου κυρίους
ἀπέφηνεν, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἐσυκοφάντησαν.

88 XV. Ὄνομα μὲν ἀνδροφονία κατὰ τοῦ κτείναντος
ἄνθρωπον ἐπιφημίζεται, τὸ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς ἔργον ἐστὶν
ἱεροσυλία καὶ ἱεροσυλιῶν ἡ μεγίστη, διότι τῶν ἐν
κόσμῳ κτημάτων καὶ κειμηλίων οὐδὲν οὔτε tepo-
πρεπέστερον οὔτε θεοειδέστερόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου"
x * αὖ παγκάλης εἰκόνος πάγκαλον ἐκμαγεῖον
ἀρχετύπου λογικῆς ἰδέας παραδείγματι τυπωθέν.

84 τὸν οὖν ἀνδροφόνον εὐθὺς ἀσεβῆ καὶ ἀνοσιουργὸν
ὑποληπτέον, ἀνοσιουργημάτων καὶ ἀσεβημάτων
δρῶντα τὸ μέγιστον, ὃν ἀμείλικτα ἐργασάμενον

1 ms. heading Κατὰ ἀνδροφόνων.
2 The insertion of ὅς ἐστι (Mangey), or ἔστι yap (Cohn),
will make the sentence grammatical. But quite possibly the

text as it stands may be due to a slip of Philo, the eye being
caught by the nominatives οὐδὲν, etc. Cf. φύντα, § 65.

* There is no biblical authority for this right of the slandered
women, nor according to Heinemann any rabbinical tradi-
tion. It may be regarded as a slip of memory, perhaps
induced by the similar liberty allowed to the seduced maidens
in 8 71.

» At this point Philo turns to the sixth (his seventh) com-
mandment, and this takes up the rest of the treatise. The
transition is abrupt (though not more so than that from the
first to the second commandment in i. 21) and suggests that

526

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 82-84

grooms were cheated and deceived. Then, if. the 82
justice of their cause prevails, the judges must assess
the punishments due to these concoctors of false
charges. This will consist of monetary fines, bodily
degradation in the form of stripes, and what is most
distasteful of all to the culprits, confirmation of the
marriage, if, that is, the women can bring them-
selves to consort with such persons.“ For the law
permits the wives to stay or separate as they wish,
but deprives the husbands of any choice either way,
as a punishment for their slanderous accusations.

XV. >The term murder or manslaughter is used to 83
signify the act of one who has killed a human being,
but in real truth that act is a sacrilege,° and the worst
of sacrileges ; seeing that of all the treasures which
the universe has in its store there is none more sacred
and godlike than man, the glorious cast of a glorious
image, shaped according to the pattern of the arche-
typal form of the Word.? It follows necessarily that 84
the murderer must be regarded as an offender against
piety and holiness, both of which are violated in the
highest degree by his action. For his merciless con-

he may himself have headed these chapters with the words of
the commandment, as he must have done with the ninth in
iv. 41.

¢ Of. De Dec. 132, 1383. The other argument against
murder used there, viz. that it is against the law of nature
which has made man a social creature, is not repeated here.

ἃ Philo is following his regular interpretation of κατ᾽ εἰκόνα
θεοῦ, 1.6. that man was made in the likeness of God’s image,
i.e. the Logos, which is εἰκών to God, but παραδεῖγμα to man.
Cf. particularly De Som. i. 76, and examples given in note
there. λογικῆς here=of the Logos; ef. § 207 below. Philo
also has in mind Gen. ix. 6, “‘ whoso sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made
he man.”’

527

8ὅ

[314]

86

PHILO

9 ᾽ 9 Α1 / / 9 4 N Φ

ἀναιρετέον, ἐπειδὴ μυρίων θανάτων ἐπάξιος ὧν ἕνα
“~ 9 ~

ὑπομένει διὰ TO τῆς τιμωρίας ἀθάνατον" εἰς πλῆθος

A ’ 9
μὴ πεφυκυίας συναύξεσθαι: χαλεπὸν δὲ οὐδέν, εἰ

“a 4 “~ 9
ταὐτὸν οἷς διέθηκέ τις πείσεται. καΐτοι πῶς ἐστι
’ὔἢ , “
ταὐτόν, εἰ καὶ χρόνοις καὶ πράξεσι καὶ βουλήμασι
καὶ προσώποις διαλλάττει; ἢ οὐχὶ τὸ μὲν χειρῶν

4
ἄρχειν ἀδίκων ἐστὶ πρότερον, τὸ δ᾽ ἀμύνεσθαι
4 e A
ὕστερον; καὶ avdpodovia μὲν παρανομώτατον, ἡ δὲ
Δ ἐ A
κατὰ ἀνδροφόνων κόλασις νομιμώτατον; Kal ὁ μὲν
“

κτείνας ἐκπεπλήρωκε τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ὃν προήρητο
ἀνελών, ὁ δὲ πεπονθὼς ἅτε γεγονὼς ἐκποδὼν οὔτ
aA A ’ 9 \
ἀντιδιαθεῖναι οὔτ᾽ ἀντεφησθῆναι δυνατός ἐστι; καὶ
e ‘ 9 4 > 7 ’ ᾽ 9 e “~
ὁ μὲν ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτοχειρίᾳ | πέφυκε δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ,

“~ 9 9 9 aA \ ’ὔ
τῷ δ᾽ ἀτελὴς ἡ ἐπέξοδος, εἰ μὴ συγγενεῖς ἢ φίλοι
προαγωνίσαιντο λαβόντες τοῦ πάθους οἶκτον;

9 ’ ’ὔ ω > A

Edv tis ἐπανατείνηται Eidos, ὥστε ἀποκτεῖναι,

5 A , 3 N
Kav μὴ ἀνέλῃ, ἔνοχος ἔστω προαιρέσει γεγονὼς
3 ’ὔ 9 \ A 4 aA
ἀνδροφόνος, εἰ καὶ μὴ TO τέλος TH γνώμῃ συν-

Ω ’
ἔδραμε. τὰ δ᾽ αὐτὰ πασχέτω, κἂν σὺν τέχνῃ τις
9 9 “- A 4
ἐξ ἐνέδρας, οὐ θαρρῶν ἄντικρυς ἐπιχειρεῖν, βουλεύῃ

1 1 suggest εἰ καὶ δὴ : Cohn καίτοι. The difficulty of logic
ὡς 66 99 . 9 ,ὕ . .
in ‘* because’ would be eased if ἀμειλίκτως is inserted before
ἀμείλικτα, the thought being that since he can have only one
death, that must be inflicted without mercy. Even so,
however, “‘although”’ is to be expected. For εἰ καὶ δὴ ef.
εἰ καί, 8 86, and εἰ δή, § 132.

* This is certainly corrupt. The simplest emendation, as
it seems to me, will be to suppose some word lost before
ἀθάνατον, which will then be taken with πλῆθος. The word
which I should suggest is ἑνικὸν, the regular term in grammar

for the “singular”? opposed to “πληθυντικόν ᾽ plural; cf.
ἑνικῶς, De Dec. 43. See further App. p. 635.

4 For death as a penalty for killing a man see Ex. xxi. 12;
Lev. xxiv. 17, 21; Num. xxxv. 16-21, 30-31; besides Gen. lx. 6.

528

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 84-86

duct he must be put to death,* though indeed it is a
thousand deaths that he deserves instead of the one
which he suffers, because his punishment being neces-
sarily single cannot grow into a plurality in which
death has no place.2> And there is no hardship if he
suffers the same as he has done; and yet how can it 85
be called the same when the times, the actions, the
motives and the persons are different ? Is it not the
fact that the unprovoked wrong comes earlier and the
punishment for it later; that murder is entirely
lawless and the punishment for murder entirely law-
ful; that the slayer has satisfied his desire with the
blood which he purposed to shed while his victim,
being removed from the scene, can neither retaliate
nor feel the pleasure which retaliation gives ; that
the former can work his will single-handed and as sole
agent, while to the latter any counter-stroke is only
possible if his friends and kinsmen in pity for his
misfortune make his cause their own?

If anyone threatens the life of another with a 86
sword, even though he does not actually kill him, he
must be held guilty of murder in intention, although
the fulfilment has not kept pace with the purpose.°
The same should be the lot of anyone who craftily lies
in wait, and, though not daring to attack outright,

» The translation follows the suggestion in note 2. The
πλῆθος is ἀθάνατον because if a punishment can be repeated it
is “ deathless ᾿ in the sense that it does not involve death.

¢ Philo is here giving his interpretation of Ex. xxi. 14, as
it is in the uxx. Where the E.V. has “‘if a man come pre-
sumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him with guile,” the
Lxx has ἐπιθῆται, which Philo understands to mean “if he
attack him, even if he does not succeed.’’ This appears from
De Conf. 160, where he takes the same text as shewing that

the intention to kill is the same as actually killing, because
the word used is ἐπιτίθεσθαι, not ἀναιρεῖν. See App. p. 635.

VOL. VII 2M 529

87

88

PHILO

A A ~ 9 A A A
καὶ μηχανᾶται δολερῶς τὸν φόνον' ἐναγὴς yap Kal
Ὄ 3 Α ᾽ὔ A A > , ~ “-
οὗτος εἰ καὶ μήπω ταῖς χερσὶν ἀλλά τοι τῇ ψυχῇ
,
καθέστηκεν. ὥσπερ yap, οἶμαι, πολεμίους οὐ μόνον
~ nv ~ > A A
τοὺς ἤδη ναυμαχοῦντας ἢ πεζομαχοῦντας ἀλλὰ Kat
Ἁ 3 ’ Α A
τοὺς εἰς ἑκάτερον παρεσκευασαμένους καὶ τὰς
e , 9 ’ A , ‘ ’ Ἃ
ἑλεπόλεις ἐφιστάντας τοῖς λιμέσι καὶ τείχεσι, κὰν
, A >
μήπω συμπλέκωνται, κρίνομεν, οὕτως καὶ avdpo-
’ A > A
φόνους χρὴ νομίζειν od τοὺς κτείναντας αὐτὸ
’ ἡλλὰ A A ’ ὃ “A 9 A > λ A
μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πάντα δρῶντας εἰς TO ἀνελεῖν
RD “A 4“ , μὴ Ἁ \ 2Q7 x
ἢ φανερῶς ἢ λάθρα, κἂν μὴ τὸ ἀδίκημα wow
3 ’ oA δὲ Α e Α ὃ λί
εἰργασμένοι. ἐὰν δὲ. καὶ ὑπὸ δειλίας
\ , “-
ἢ θράσους, μαχομένων καὶ ἐπιλήπτων παθῶν,
A “A 3 e Α 3 ’
καταφυγεῖν τολμῶσιν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ὡς ἀσυλίαν
“- ’
εὑρησόμενοι, κωλυτέον: κἂν φθῶσι' παρεισδύντες,
9 9 9 > “-- 9 3
ἐκδοτέον ἐπ᾽ ἀναιρέσει τοιαῦτα ἐπιλέγοντας, ἀ-
’ > ae A A “A Α e
συλίαν ἀνιέροις TO ἱερὸν μὴ παρέχεσθαι. πᾶς yap ὁ
> », “" 3 A A > ’ A > +
ἀνίατα δρῶν ἐχθρὸς θεῷ: ἀνδροφόνοι δὲ ἀνίατα
δρῶσιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ot ἀνδροφονηθέντες ἀνίατα πε-

’ κι A A A e , Ψ bd)
89 πόνθασιν. ἢ τοῖς μὲν μηδὲν ἡμαρτηκόσιν, ἕως ἂν

3 ’ \ “A A
ἀπολούσωνται καὶ περιρρανάμενοι καθαρθῶσι Tots
9 4 ’ 3, e , 3 A \
εἰωθόσι καθαρσίοις, ἄβατος ὁ νεώς ἐστι, τοὺς δὲ
9 ’ 9 ᾽ὔ ® ,
ἐνόχους ἀνεκπλύτοις ἄγεσιν, ὧν τὰ μιάσματα
291 > , : / ” 3 a ‘ 2
οὐδεὶς ἀπονίψει χρόνος, ἀξιον ἐπιφοιτᾶν καὶ ev-
’ A Ψ 3) 9Q9 v > 9 4
διατρίβειν τοῖς ἕδεσιν, ots οὐδ᾽ ἂν οἰκία δέξαιτο

90 κοσμίων ἀνδρῶν οἷς μέλει τῶν ὁσίων; XVI. προσ-

1 So Heinemann. Cohn ὀφθῶσι with two mss. The rest
have φθάνωσι, which (or φθῶσι) gives the better sense.

@ For §§ 88-91 see Ex. xxi. 14, ‘‘thou shalt take him from
mine altar that he may die.”

530

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 86-00

plots and schemes to shed blood treacherously, for he
too is under the curse in his soul at least even though
his hands are innocent as yet. For just as not only 87
those who fight battles by sea or land, but also those
who have made preparations for either and planted
their engines to command our harbours and walls are
judged by us to be our enemies, even though there

is no engagement as yet, so too in my opinion should
we regard as murderers, not merely those who have
slain but also those whose every action aims at de-
stroying life either openly or secretly, even though
they have not carried out the crime.

And if through cowardice or effrontery, two antagon- 88
istic but equally culpable emotions, they venture to
take refuge in the temple, hoping to obtain an asylum
there, they must be prevented from entering ; and
if they manage to slink in, they must be handed over
for execution with a declaration to the effect that the
holy place does not provide asylum for the unholy.?
Everyone whose actions are irremediable is an enemy
of God, and the actions of murderers are irremediable,

as are also the calamities which the murdered have
sustained. If those who have committed no sin are 89
forbidden access to the sanctuary, until they have
bathed and purged themselves with purifying water
according to the customary rites, is it fitting that the
sacred building should be the resort and abode of men
labouring under the curse of ineffaceable crimes, the
pollution of which no length of time will wash away
—men who would not be admitted into the dwelling-
houses of decent people who take any thought for
what the law of holiness ὃ permits or forbids? XVI. So 90

> ὅσιος is perhaps used here in the common Attic sense of
what is allowable and therefore almost = βέβηλος.

531

91
[315]

92

PHILO

4 S 3 ᾽ 9 , > ,
τιθέντας οὖν ἀδικήματα ἀδικήμασιν, avdpodovia
παρανομίαν καὶ ἀσέβειαν, ἀναγκαῖον ἀπάγειν δώ-

’ ᾿ \ co» ” / /
σοντας δίκην, τοὺς ὡς ἔφην ἀξια μυρίων θανάτων,
93 e + 9 , 3 aA
οὐχ ἑνός, εἰργασμένους. ἄλλως τε τοῖς
συγγενέσι καὶ φίλοις τοῦ δολοφονηθέντος ἀπο-

’ , ἐ 4 9 ὁ 3 ὔ > ’
κεκλείσεται τὸ ἱερόν, εἰ 6 ἀνδροφόνος ἐνδιατρίβοι,

A “A e ’ 9 9 4 3 aA ”

μὴ ἂν ὑπομείνασιν εἰς ταὐτόν ποτε ἐλθεῖν: ἄτοπον
δὲ ἑνὸς ἕνεκα πολλοὺς καὶ τοῦ παρανομωτάτου

A , 3 , a \ ~
τοὺς παρανομηθέντας ἐξελαύνεσθαι, ot πρὸς τῷ

A e A ” \ , 4 . ’
μηδὲν ἁμαρτεῖν ἔτι καὶ πένθος πρόωρον ἀνεδέξαντο.

Ul “~
τάχα μέντοι Kal τὰ μακρὰν ὀξυωπίᾳ λογισμοῦ
A 3 ’ 9. 9 \ 4 3 ~
πεφυκὼς ἐμβλέπειν | προὐνόησε μὴ φόνον ἐν τῷ
e ~ ~ ~
ἱερῷ γενέσθαι κατὰ τὰς ἐπιφοιτήσεις τῶν τοῦ
, 2 / ἃ , “ 3 ,
σφαγέντος ἐπιτηδείων, ots στοργή, πάθος adov-
λωτον, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐνθουσιῶντας καὶ κατεχομένους
προκαλέσεται μόνον οὐκ αὐτοχειρίᾳ κτεῖναι τὸν
9 ἢ @ ͵ , , = 9
ἀνδροφόνον: οὗ γενομένου συμβήσεταί τι τῶν ἀνο-
, @ Ἁ 9 4 ~
σιωτάτων, αἵματι yap ἀνδροφόνων αἷμα θυσιῶν
> 4 A ’ὔ 1 “- A A
ἀνακραθήσεται, TO καθωσιωμένον' τῷ μὴ καθαρῷ.
\ A \ ~ lA \ > 93 9 “- ~
διὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα κελεύει Kal am αὐτῶν τῶν
“A 3 “- \ 9 ’
βωμῶν ἐκδοῦναι τὸν ἀνδροφόνον. |
XVII. ’AAA’ οἱ μὲν ξίφεσιν 7 δορατίοις ἢ βέλεσιν
“A , nn [4 3 e 4 3 ~
ἢ ξύλοις ἢ λίθοις 7H τισιν ὁμοιοτρόποις ἀναιροῦντες

1 So or καθοσιωμένον most mss. S has τῶν καθοσιωμένων,
which Cohn adopts (correcting the o to w).

532

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 90-92

as they haveadded crimes to crimes andcappedmurder
with defiance of the law and impiety, these male-
factors whose deeds, as I have said, deserve not one ~
but a thousand deaths must be carried off to pay the
penalty. Another consideration is that
the temple will remain closed ground to the friends
and kinsmen of the victim of treachery, if the murderer
makes it his abode, since they would never bring
themselves to come under the same roof as he. And
it would be preposterous that a single person, a
transgressor of the worst kind, should cause the banish-
ment of the many sufferers from his transgression,
who not only have committed no sin but have sus-
tained a sad and untimely bereavement. It may 91
well be also that Moses, who in the keenness of his
mental vision could look into the distant future, took
steps to provide that the visits of the slain man’s
relatives should not lead to bloodshed in the temple.
For family affection is an emotion which cannot be
kept in bondage, and as with persons possessed by
fanaticism it will incite them to slay him almost on
the spur of the moment,’ and the result of this will be
a profanation of the gravest sort. For the blood of
the murderer will mix with the blood of the sacrifices,
the impure with the consecrated. These are the
reasons why he ordered the murderer to be handed
over from the altar itself.
XVII. But those who take another’s life withswords 92

or spears or javelins or staves or stones or anything else

@ The dictionaries do not suggest this meaning for αὐτοχειρία
and αὐτόχειρ as a variant to the ordinary meaning of “ with
one’s own hand’’; but the sense here seems to require such a
modification. Τὸ suggest that the injured persons would like
to do the act almost with their own hands seems feeble. Still
more is this the case in § 96.

533

PHILO

δύνανται μὴ προβεβουλευμένοι μηδ᾽ ἐκ πολλοῦ παρ᾽
αὑτοῖς λελογισμένοι τὸ ἄγος, ἐκ ταὐτομάτου δια-
κινηθέντες καὶ θυμῷ δυνατωτέρῳ χρησάμενοι λο-
γισμοῦ, δρᾶσαι τὸν φόνον, ὡς ἡμίεργον τὴν πρᾶξιν
εἶναι, τῆς διανοίας μὴ προκατεσχημένης ἐκ μακροῦ
98 τοῖς μιάσμασιν. εἰσὶ δὲ ἕτεροι πονη-
ρότατοι, χερσὶ καὶ γνώμαις ἐναγεῖς, οἱ μάγοι καὶ
φαρμακευταί, σχολὴν καὶ ἀναχώρησιν ἐνδιδόντες
αὑτοῖς πρὸς καιρίους ἐπιθέσεις καὶ τέχνας καὶ
μηχανὰς πολυτρόπους ἀνευρίσκοντες ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν
94 πλησίον συμφοραῖς. ὅθεν κελεύει φαρμακευτὰς καὶ
φαρμακίδας μηδεμίαν ἡμέραν ἀλλὰ μηδ᾽ ὥραν
ἐπιβιοῦν, ἀλλ᾽ ἅμα τῷ ἁλῶναι τεθνάναι, μηδεμιᾶς
ἐγγινομένης προφάσεως, εἰς “ἀναβολὴν καὶ ὑπέρ-
cow τῆς τιμωρίας" τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄντικρυς ἐπι-
βουλεύοντας δύναιτ᾽ ἄν τις φυλάξασθαι, τῶν δὲ
κρύφα συντιθέντων καὶ σκευωρούντων τὰς ἐπιθέσεις
9ὅ φαρμακείαις οὐ ῥᾷδιον τὰς τέχνας συνιδεῖν. ἀναγ-
καῖον οὖν, ἃ μελλήσουσι δι᾽ αὐτοὺς ἕτεροι ποθεῖν,
τοὺς δρῶντας προδιαθεῖναι. καὶ γὰρ ἄλλως ὁ μὲν
ἐμφανῶς ξίφει κτείνων ἤ τινι ὅπλῳ τῶν ὁμοιο-
τρόπων καθ᾽ ἕνα καιρὸν ὀλίγους ἀνελεῖ, φαρμά-
κοις δὲ θανασίμοις μυρίους ὅσους τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν

α See Num. xxxv. 16-18, where we have the same enumera-
tion of weapons (iron, stone, wood), the use of which constitutes
murder, followed later (vv. 22, 23) by the proviso that if the
death was not caused through enmity, it is not murder, though
this refers rather to accidental than, as Philo seems to construe
it, to unpremeditated slaying He resumes the subject in
§ 104. At present his point is that poisoning cannot possibly
have such an excuse.

ὃ Philo’s main authority for these two sections is Ex. xxii. 18,
where, while the A.V. has “thou shalt not suffer a witch

534

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 92-95

of the kind may not act on premeditation*; they may
not have long pondered the abomination in their
hearts ; they may have been moved by a momentary
instinct and allowed their anger to overpower their
reason when they did the fatal deed. If so, theirs is
but a half action, since the mind has not been under
the control of the polluting influences from some far
earlier time. ® But there are others, the 93
worst of villains, accursed both in hand and will, the
sorcerers and poisoners, who provide themselves with
leisure and retirement to prepare the onslaughts they
will make when the right time comes,¢ and think out
multiform schemes and devices to harm their neigh-
bours. And therefore he orders that poisoners, male 94
or female,* should not survive for a day or even an
hour, but perish as soon as they are detected, since
no reason can be given for delay or for postponing
their punishment. Hostile intentions if undisguised
can be guarded against, but those who secretly frame
and concoct their plans of attack with the aid of
poisons employ artifices which cannot easily be
observed. The only course, then, is to anticipate the 95
by meting to the actors the treatment which oi’ .rs
may expect to suffer through their acts. For apart
from other considerations the slayer who openly uses
a sword or any similar weapon will make away with a
few on one particular occasion, but if he mixes an
injection of deadly poison with some articles of food

(R.V. ‘‘ sorceress’) to live,” the txx has φαρμακοὺς οὐ περι-
ποιήσεις. The word φαρμακός is applied to sorcerers as well as
poisoners, as Philo himself implies in § 102, where see note.

¢ Or possibly ‘‘ deadly,” as in § 106.

@ Does this suggest that Philo had an inkling or had been
informed that the Hebrew word which the txx translated by
φαρμακούς was actually feminine ἢ

535

PHILO

οὐ προαισθανομένους ἐδωδίμοις τισὶν ἀναμίξας καὶ
96 συνανακερασάμενος. ἤδη γοῦν πολυάνθρωπα συσ-
σίτια καθ᾽ ἑταιρείαν συνεληλυθότων ἐπὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς
ἅλας καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τράπεζαν ἐν σπονδαῖς ἄσπονδα
ἔπαθεν ἐξαίφνης διαφθαρέντα καὶ θάνατον ἀντ᾽
εὐωχίας ἀντηλλάξατο. διὸ προσήκει κατὰ τῶν
τοιούτων καὶ τοὺς ἐπιεικεστάτους καὶ τοὺς
μετριοπαθεστάτους φονᾶν, μόνον οὐκ αὐτόχειρας
γινομένους καὶ νομίζοντας εὐαγὲς εἶναι τὸ μὴ
97 ἑτέροις τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐπιτρέπειν ἀλλ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς. πῶς
γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι πάνδεινον, διὰ τροφῆς ἣ τοῦ ζῆν
αἰτία καθέστηκε θάνατον τεχνάζειν καὶ τοῖς φύσει
τροφίμοις φθοροποιὸν ἐνεργάζεσθαι μεταβολήν, ἵνα
τινὲς διὰ φυσικὴν ἀνάγκην ἐπ᾽ ἐδωδὴν καὶ πόσιν
ἰόντες, οὐ προϊδόντες τὴν ἐνέδραν, ὡς σωτήρια
98 προσῶνται τὰ πανωλεθρίας αἴτια; τὴν δ᾽ αὐτὴν
ὑπομενέτωσαν τιμωρίαν, κἀν [εἴ] τινες θανάσιμα
μὴ συντιθέντες τὰ δι᾿ ὧν μακραὶ κατασκευάζονται
[316] γόσοι προσφέρωσι: θάνατοι γὰρ πολλάκις aipe-
τώτεροι νόσων εἰσὶ καὶ μάλιστα τῶν τοιούτων,
al μήκεσι χρόνων ἀποτείνονται καὶ τέλος ἔχουσιν
οὐκ αἴσιον: δυσίατα γὰρ ἤδη καὶ παντελῶς
ἀθεράπευτα τὰ ἐκ φαρμακειῶν ἀρρωστήματα.
99 χαλεπώτερα μέντοι συμβαίνειν φιλεῖ τῶν ἐν τοῖς
σώμασι καὶ (Ta) περὶ τὰς ψυχὰς πάθη τῶν ἐπι-
βουλευομένων: ἐκστάσεις γὰρ καὶ παραφροσύναι

* Goodenough, who translates this passage, p. 105, gives
the meaning more literally, ‘‘ suffer in the libation something
which should have no connexion with it.’? But the idea of
“truce,” is inextricably bound up with ‘“‘libation”’ in σπονδή
and still more in ἄσπονδος.

536

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 95-99

his victims who have no foreknowledge of the plot
will be counted by thousands. We have certainly 96
heard of banquets where sudden destruction has
fallen upon a great assemblage of guests drawn by
comradeship to eat of the same salt and sit at the
same board, to whom the cup of peace has brought
the bitterness of war? and festivity has been changed
into death. And therefore it is right that even the
most reasonable and mild-tempered should seek the
blood of such as these, that they should lose hardly a
moment in becoming their executioners,’ and should
hold it a religious duty to keep their punishment in
their own hands and not commit it to others. For 97
surely it is a horror of horrors to manufacture out of
the food which is the source of life an instrument of
death, and to work a destructive change in the natural
means of sustenance, so that when the compulsion of
nature sends them to take food and drink they do not
see the pitfall that lies before them and put to their
lips what will annihilate the existence which they
think it will preserve. The same punishment must 98
be suffered by any who, although the compounds
which they make are not deadly, purvey what will set
up chronic diseases. For death in many cases is pre-
ferable to diseases, particularly such as drag on
through long periods of time without any favourable
termination. For maladies caused by poisoning have
been found difficult to cure and sometimes entirely
unamenable to treatment. However, the bodily 99
troubles of the sufferers from these machinations are
often less grievous than those which affect their souls.
Fits of delirium and insanity and intolerable frenzy

ὃ See note on avroxerpia, § 91.
¢ See App. p. 635.

537

PHILO

καὶ ἀφόρητοι μανίαι κατασκήπτουσι, du’ ὧν ὁ νοῦς,
ἣν μεγίστην ἀπένειμεν ἀνθρώπων γένει δωρεὰν ὁ
θεός, κακούμενος πάσας κακώσεις, ὅταν ἀπογνῷ
τὰ σωτήρια, μετανίσταται καὶ μετοικίζεται τὸ τῆς
ψυχῆς φαυλότερον εἶδος ὑπολειπόμενος ἐν τῷ
σώματι, τὸ ἄλογον, οὗ καὶ τὰ θηρία μετέσχηκεν,
ἐπειδὴ πᾶς ὁ ἐρημωθεὶς λογισμοῦ τοῦ κρείττονος
μέρους ψυχῆς μεταβέβληκεν εἰς θήρειον φύσιν,
κἂν ἔτι μένωσιν ot τοῦ σώματος χαρακτῆρες

ἀνθρωπόμορφοι.

100 XVII. Τὴν μὲν οὖν ἀληθῆ μαγικήν, ὀπτικὴν

101

ἐπιστήμην οὖσαν, ἧ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα τρα-
νοτέραις ἀἀνεαοίαὶ: αὐγάζεται, σεμνὴν καὶ περι-
μάχητον δοκοῦσαν εἶναι, οὐκ ἰδιῶται μόνον ἀλλὰ
καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ βασιλέων οἱ μέγιστοι καὶ μάλιστα
οἱ Περσῶν διαπονοῦσιν οὕτως, ὥστ᾽ οὐδένα φασὶν
ἐπὶ βασιλείαν δύνασθαι παραπεμφθῆναι παρ᾽ av-
τοῖς, εἰ μὴ πρότερον τοῦ μάγων γένους κεκοι-
νωνηκὼς τυγχάνοι. ἔστι δέ τι παράκομμα ταύτης,
κυριώτατα φάναι κακοτεχνία, ἣν μηναγύρται καὶ
βωμολόχοι μετίασι καὶ γυναίων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων
τὰ φαυλότατα, περιμάττειν καὶ καθαίρειν κατ-
επαγγελλόμενα καὶ στέργοντας μὲν εἰς ἀνήκεστον
ἔχθραν μισοῦντας δὲ εἰς ὑπερβάλλουσαν εὔνοιαν
ἄξειν ὑπισχνούμενα φίλτροις καὶ ἐπῳδαῖς τισιν,
εἶτα τοὺς ἀπλάστοις καὶ ἀκακωτάτοις ἤθεσι κε-
χρημένους ἀπατᾷ τε καὶ ἀγκιστρεύεται, μέχρις ἂν
τὰς μεγίστας προσλάβωσι συμφοράς, δι᾽ ἃς οἰκείων
καὶ συγγενῶν ὅμιλοι μεγάλοι καὶ πολυάνθρωποι

@ Cf. Quod Omn. Prob. 74, where the magic of the Persians
538

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 99-101

swoop down upon them, and thereby the mind, the
greatest gift which God has assigned to human kind,
is subject to every sort of affliction, and when it
despairs of salvation it takes its departure and makes
its home elsewhere, leaving in the body the baser
kind of soul, the irrational, which the beasts also share.
For everyone who is left forsaken by reason, the
better part of the soul, has been transformed into the
nature of a beast, even though the outward character-
istics of his body still retain their human form.
XVIII. Now the true magic,“ the scientific vision by 100

which the facts of nature are presented in a clearer
light, is felt to be a fit object for reverence and ambi-
tion and is carefully studied not only by ordinary
persons but by kings and the greatest kings, and
particularly those of the Persians, so much so that it
is said that no one in that country is promoted to the
throne unless he has first been admitted? into the
caste of the Magi. But there is a counterfeit of this, 101
most properly called a perversion of art,° pursued by
charlatan mendicants and parasites and the basest of
the women and slave population, who make it their
profession to deal in purifications and disenchantments
and promise with some sort of charms and incanta-
tions to turn men’s love into deadly enmity and their
hatred ints-profound affection. The simplest and most
innocent natures are deceived by the bait till at last
the worst misfortunes come upon them and thereby
the wide membership which unites great companies

is described in almost the same words as here. See App.
pp. 635-636.

> Or “made a partner with,” 7.e. “has learnt their lore.”
But this would seem to need the dative. The genitive, at any
rate in Philo, is regularly applied to the thing shared.

¢ For the use of xaxorexvia see note on De Mut. 151.

539

PHILO

A \ e , 9 A “ >
κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπορρέοντες ἀψοφητὶ ταχέως €€-
4 3 Ὁ 4 > A ς ἐ “
102 εφθβάρησαν. εἰς ἅπερ, οἶμαι, πάντα ἀπιδὼν ὁ ἡμέ-
A ~ 9
τερος νομοθέτης οὐκ ἐᾷ τὰς κατὰ φαρμακευτῶν εἰς
Ὁ 9 U ’ ; “-- A
ὕστερον ἀναβάλλεσθαι δίκας, παραχρῆμα Tas
: 4
τιμωρίας ἀναπράττειν κελεύσας" ai yap ὑπερθέσεις
a aA a 9
τοὺς μὲν ὑπαιτίους ἐνευκαιρεῖν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀδι-
~ ~ A A 3
κήμασι παρορμῶσιν ἅτε θανατῶντας,' τοὺς δὲ εἰς
A A e 4 ’ ’ 3
τὸ παθεῖν ὑπόπτους φοβερωτέρου δέους ava-

A “4 9 ’ A vA e ~ >
πιμπλᾶσι, τὴν ἐκείνων ζωὴν θάνατον αὑτῶν εἶναι
108

[5317] νομίζοντας. καθάπερ οὖν ἔχεις καὶ σκορπίους | καὶ

Ὁ 3 ’ ‘ a .᾿ “- Ἃ ’
ὅσα ἰοβόλα, πρὶν δακεῖν ἢ τρῶσαι ἢ συνόλως
2 a , ,
ἐφορμῆσαι, θεασάμενοι μόνον χωρὶς ὑπερθέσεως
κτείνομεν, προφυλαττόμενοι διὰ τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν
a a 4
αὐτοῖς κακίαν τὸ μηδὲν παθεῖν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον
\ 3 4 »” aA Δ ’ 3
καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἄξιον τιμωρεῖσθαι, οἱ φύσεως ἐπι-
A
λαχόντες ἡμέρου διὰ τὴν κοινωνίας αἰτίαν, λογικὴν
’
ψυχήν,Σ ἐπιτηδεύσει πρὸς θηρίων ἀτιθάσων ἀγριό-
7 3 e “- A 3 ’ A 4
τητὰας μετέβαλον ev ἡδονῇ καὶ ὠφελείᾳ TH πάσῃ
τιθέμενοι τὸ κακῶς ποιεῖν ὅσους ἂν δύνωνται.
104 XIX. Τοσαῦτ᾽ ἐν τῷ παρόντι περὶ φαρμακευτῶν
- 9
ἀποχρώντως λελέχθω. προσήκει μέντοι μηδὲ τοῦτ
ἀγνοεῖν, ὅτι καιροὶ συμπίπτουσιν ἀβούλητοι πολ-

1 Cohn, who originally suggested ἅτε θανατοῦντας, later in a
note to Heinemann’s translation declared the words to be an
interpolation. See note ὁ and App. pp. 636-637.

2 So Cohn following Mangey for mss. πηγήν. I follow
them without doubt. Is λογικὴ πηγή in the sense of the
“fountain of reason,” z.e. containing reason, as a periphrasis
for the mind or soul, impossible ?

540

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 101-104

of friends and kinsmen falls gradually into decay and
is rapidly and silently destroyed. All these things our
lawgiver had in view,? I believe, when he prohibited
any postponement in bringing poisoners to justice
and ordained that the punishment should be exacted
atonce.® For postponement encourages the culprits
to use the little time they have to live 5 as an oppor-
tunity for repeating their crimes, while it fills those
who already have misgivings as to their safety with a
still more horrifying fear, as they think that the sur-
vival of the poisoners means death to themselves. So
just as the mere sight of vipers and scorpions and all
venomous creatures even before they sting or wound
or attack us at all leads us to kill them without delay
as a precaution against injury necessitated by their
inherited viciousness, in the same way it is right to
punish human beings who though they have received
a nature mellowed through the possession of a rational
soul, whence springs the sense of fellowship, have
been so changed by their habits of life that they shew
the savageness of ferocious wild beasts and find their
only source of pleasure and profit in injuring all whom
they can. 7

XIX. Enough has been said for the present on the
subject of poisoners, but we must not fail to observe
that occasions often arise unsought in which a man

@ Philo here clearly implies that he sees that the magical

arts described in the previous section fall under the head of.

the crime denounced in Ex. xxii. 18 φαρμακοὺς οὐ περιποιήσεις.
_ ©» Philo finds this meaning in οὐ περιποιήσεις. The verb
might properly be used of a person temporarily reprieved.

¢ Lit. ‘to make the best of their opportunities since they
are about to die,’ if the text is to stand, on which see App.
pp. 636-637. Cohn’s first suggestion of ἅτε θανατοῦντας, mean-
ing, I suppose, ‘‘ since they are murderous people,” seems to
me impossibly weak.

541

102

103

104

105

106

107

PHILO

λάκις, ἐν ols avdpodovet tis οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐλθὼν
ἢ παρεσκευασμένος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐξαπιναίως ἁρπασθεὶς
ὑπ᾽ ὀργῆς, ἀνηκέστου καὶ ἐπιβούλου πάθους, ὃ καὶ
τὸν ἔχοντα καὶ (Tov) καθ᾽ οὗ γίνεται τὰ μέγιστα
βλάπτει. προελθὼν γὰρ ἔστιν ὅτε εἰς ἀγορὰν
9 >
ἕνεκα πραγματείας ἐπειγούσης, ἐντυχών τινι προ-
πετεστέρῳ κακηγορεῖν ἢ τύπτειν ἐπιχειροῦντι ἢ καὶ
αὐτὸς ἄρξας τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον διαφορᾶς, συμπλοκῆς
γενομένης, ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαζευχθῆναι καὶ θᾶττον
ἐκφυγεῖν ἢ πὺξ ἔπαισε τῇ χειρὶ ἣ λίθον ἀράμενος
ἔρριψε: καιρίως δὲ τῆς πληγῆς ἐνεχθείσης, εἰ μὲν
εὐθὺς θνήσκοι, καὶ ὁ παίσας θνῃσκέτω τὰ ἴσα οἷς
διέθηκε παθών' ἐὰν δὲ παραχρῆμα μὲν ἐκ τῆς
πληγῆς μὴ τελευτήσῃ, νόσῳ δὲ χρήσηται καὶ
κ ινήρης γενόμενος ἐπιμελείας τυχὼν τῆς προσ-
nKovons αὖθις ἐξαναστῇ καὶ προέλθῃ, κἂν μὴ
ποσὶν ἀρτίοις πως δύνηται βαδίζειν ἀλλ᾽ ὑπερ-
ειδόντων. τινῶν 7 καὶ βακτηρίᾳ σκηριπτόμενος,
διττὰς ὃ παίσας ἐκτινέτω ημίας, τὴν μὲν εἰς
ἀργίας ἐπανόρθωσιν, τὴν δ᾽ ἀντὶ τῶν ἰατρείων.
καταθεὶς δ᾽ ἀπηλλάχθω τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ τι-
μωρίας, κἂν ὕστερον ὃ τὴν πληγὴν λαβὼν τε-
λευτήσῃ" τάχα γὰρ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς πληγῆς, ἐπειδὴ
ῥᾷων γενόμενος εἰς περίπατον προῆλθεν, ἀλλὰ καθ᾽
ἑτέρας αἰτίας, aL καὶ τοὺς ὑγιεινοτάτους τὰ σώματα

πολλάκις ἐξαίφνης ἐπιθέμεναι διέφθειραν.

α For §§ 105-107 see Ex. xxi. 18, 19. Observe that Philo
does not really follow up the idea suggested in the preceding
section and still more clearly in § 92, viz. that manslaughter
committed in sudden anger is only a “half action,” and pre-
sumably, therefore, to be punished less severely. For if the
other dies on the spot the penalty is still death, and if he dies
later, the remission of the penalty is only justified by the

542

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 104-107

commits murder without having come with this
purpose in his mind or with any preparations, but
has been carried away by anger, that intractable and
malignant passion so highly injurious both to him
who entertains it and to him against whom it is
directed. *Sometimes a man goes to the market-place
through stress of business ; he meets another of the
more headstrong kind who sets about abusing or
striking him, or it may be that he himself begins the
quarrel ; then when they have set to, he wishes to
break off and escape quickly ; he smites the other
with his clenched fist or takes up a stone and throws
it. Suppose that the blow strikes home, then if his
opponent dies at once, the striker too must die and
be treated as he has treated the other, but if that
other is not killed on the spot by the blow, but is
laid up with sickness and after keeping his bed and
receiving the proper care gets up again and goes
abroad, even though he is not sound on his feet and
can only walk with the support of others or leaning
on a staff, the striker must be fined twice over, first
to make good the other's enforced idleness and
secondly to compensate for the cost of his cure.’ This
payment will release him from the death-penalty,
even if the sufferer from the blow subsequently dies.
For as he got better and walked abroad, his death
may be due not to the blow but to other causes
which often suddenly attack and put an end to
persons whose bodily health is as sound as possible.

uncertainty that the death was due to the blow. See on ὃ 120
(App. pp. 637-638).

> E.V. “only he shall pay for the loss of his time and shall
cause him to be thoroughly healed.” Philo follows closely
the wording of the Lxx, πλὴν τῆς ἀργίας αὐτοῦ ἀποτίσει καὶ τὰ
iarpeia. 3

543

105

106

107

PHILO

108 ᾿Ἐὰν δὲ συμπλακεὶς γυναικί τις ἐγκύῳ πληγὴν
ἐμφορήσῃ κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα, ἡ δὲ ἀμβλώσῃ, ἐὰν
μὲν ἄπλαστον καὶ ἀδιατύπωτον τὸ ἀμβλωθὲν τύχῃ,
ζημιούσθω, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὕβριν καὶ ὅτι ἐμποδὼν
ἐγένετο τῇ φύσει ζῳογονῆσαι τὸ κάλλιστον τεχνι-
τευούσῃ καὶ δημιουργούσῃ ζῷον, ἄνθρωπον" εἰ δὲ
ἤδη μεμορφωμένον, ἁπάντων μελῶν τὰς οἰκείους

109 τάξεις καὶ ποιότητας ἀπειληφότων, θνῃσκέτω. τὸ
γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν, ὃν ἐν τῷ τῆς φύσεως
ἐργαστηρίῳ διεχρήσατο μήπω καιρὸν εἶναι νομι-

[318] ζούσης εἰς φῶς προαγαγεῖν, ἐοικὸς ἀνδριάντι Ι ἐν
πλαστικῇ κατακειμένῳ, πλέον οὐδὲν ἢ τὴν ἔξω
παραπομπὴν καὶ ἄνεσιν' ἐπιζητοῦντι.

110 XX. Διὰ ταύτης τῆς προστάξεως καὶ ἕτερόν τι
μεῖζον ἀπηγόρευται, βρεφῶν ἔκθεσις, ὃ ὃ παρὰ πολ-
λοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν ἕνεκα τῆς φυσικῆς ἀπ-

111 ανθρωπίας χειρόηθες ἀσέβημα γέγονεν. eb γὰρ τοῦ
μηδέπω ταῖς ὡρισμέναις τῶν καιρῶν περιόδοις
ἀποκυηθέντος προνοητέον, ὡς μὴ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς τι
δεινὸν πάθοι, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τοῦ τελειογονη-
θέντος καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς ἀποικίαν ἣν ἔλαχον ἄνθρωποι
προπεμφθέντος ἐπὶ τῷ μεταλαχεῖν τῶν τῆς φύσεως

ὠρεῶν, ἃς ἀνίησιν ἐκ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος
καὶ οὐρανοῦ, παρέχουσα τῶν μὲν οὐρανίων τὴν

1 Cohn suggests ἄφεσιν.

@ Ex. xxi. 22. Here Philo follows the rxx, which differs
seriously from the Hebrew. There the words “850 that her
fruit depart, and yet no mischief follow,’’ appear to mean
(see Driver) that the woman does not die or suffer permanent
injury from the miscarriage, and the question of the complete
formation or not of the child does not appear at all. ixx
ἐὰν. . . ἐξέλθῃ τὸ παιδίον μὴ ἐξεικονισμένον.

ὃ See App. p. 687.
544

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 108-111

«Tf a man comes to blows with a pregnant woman 108
and strikes her on the belly and she miscarries, then,
if the result of the miscarriage is unshaped and un-
developed, he must be fined both for the outrage and
for obstructing the artist Nature in her creative work
of bringing into life the fairest of living creatures,
man.2 But, if the offspring is already shaped and all
the limbs have their proper qualities and places in
the system, he must die, for that which answers to 109
this description is a human being, which he has
destroyed in the laboratory of Nature who judges
that the hour has not yet come for bringing it out
into the light, like a statue lying in a studio requiring
nothing more than to be conveyed outside and re-
leased from confinement.° |

XX. This ordinance carries with it the prohibition 110
of something else more important, the exposure of
infants,* a sacrilegious practice which among many
other nations, through their ingrained inhumanity,
has come to be regarded with complacence. For if 111
on behalf of the child not yet brought to the birth
by the appointed conclusion of the regular period
thought has to be taken to save it from disaster at
the hands of the evil-minded, surely still more true
is this of the full-born babe sent out as it were to
settle in the new homeland assigned to mankind,
there to partake of the gifts of Nature. These gifts
she draws from earth and water and air and heaven.

¢ See App. p. 637.

¢ The exposure of children is nowhere expressly forbidden
in the law, though doubtless it would fall under the general
head of murder as Philo himself suggests in § 118, and
Josephus presumably held when he says, Contra Ap. ii. 202,
that it was forbidden by the law. The txx mistranslation of
Ex. xxi. 22 comes in happily to help Philo to clinch the point.

VOL. VII ΟΝ 545

112

118

114

115

PHILO

~ \ A e 4
θέαν, τῶν δὲ ἐπιγείων τὸ κράτος Kal τὴν ἡγεμονίαν,
“-Ο - La
Kal πάσαις μὲν χορηγοῦσα ταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ἄφθονα
“A “A A A
τὰ πάντων, τῷ δὲ νῷ καθάπερ μεγάλῳ βασιλεῖ τὰ
\ ‘ 4 e nv ’ ω 9 θ ὔ \
μὲν διὰ τούτων ws av δορυφόρων ὅσα αἰσθητά, τὰ
δ᾽ ἄνευ τούτων ὅσα λόγῳ καταληπτά; τοσούτων
οὖν ἀποστεροῦντες ἀγαθῶν τοὺς παῖδας οἱ τροφεῖς,
ἅμα τῇ γενέσει τούτων μηδενὸς μεταδιδόντες,
’
ἴστωσαν νόμους φύσεως καταλύοντες καὶ τὰ μέ-
γιστα κατηγοροῦντες αὑτῶν, φιληδονίαν, μισαν-
θρωπίαν, ἀνδροφονίαν καὶ---τὸ χαλεπώτατον ἄγος--
τεκνοκτονίαν. φιλήδονοι μὲν γάρ, εἰ μὴ σπορᾶς
ἕνεκα τέκνων καὶ τοῦ διαιωνίσαι τὸ γένος συν-
έρχονται γυναιξὶν ἀλλὰ θηρώμενοι συῶν ἢ τράγων
9 e ’
τρόπον τὴν ἐξ ὁμιλίας ἀπόλαυσιν" μισάνθρωποι δὲ
τίνες ἂν εἶεν μᾶλλον ἢ ot τῶν γεννηθέντων ἐχθροὶ
\
Kal ἀμείλικτοι δυσμενεῖς ; εἰ μή τις οὕτως ἐστὶν
ἠλίθιος, ὡς ὑπολαβεῖν ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους
e
ἔνσπονδοι γένοιντ᾽ ἂν OL τοὺς ἡνωμένους κατὰ γένος
9
ἔκσπονδα εἰργασμένοι. τάς γε μὴν ἀνδροφονίας καὶ
’ 9 4 A
TekvokTovias evapyeotatats βεβαιοῦνται πίστεσιν
e ’ 4
οἱ μὲν αὐτόχειρες γινόμενοι Kal THY πρώτην εἰσ-
\ “~ “A 4 A > ’ ς \
πνοὴν τῶν βρεφῶν πιέζοντες καὶ ἀναθλίβοντες ὑπὸ
\ “A
ὠμότητος Kat δεινῆς ἀναλγησίας, ot δὲ εἰς ποταμὸν
wn θ λ , θ \ 3 ’ Ld 9 ,
ἢ θαλάττης βυθὸν ἀφιέντες, ὅταν ἀπαιωρήσωσιν
3 υ “A ~ 4 , e ? 3 3
ἄχθος, ἵνα θᾶττον τῷ βάρει καταφέρηται:" οἱ δ᾽ ἐπ
9 ’ 9
ἐρημίαν κομίζουσιν ἐκθήσοντες, ὡς μὲν αὐτοί
2 ὃ ’ e de 1A θὲ ” A
φασιν, ἐλπίδι σωτηρίας, ὡς δὲ τἀληθὲς ἔχει, πρὸς
> 4 4 4 \
ἀνιαροτάτας συμφοράς" ὅσα yap ἀνθρωπίνων cap-

α« πάντων apparently refers to earth, air, and water summed
up in τὰ ἐπίγεια. The οὐράνια are not given to all the senses.

546

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 111-115

Of heavenly things she grants the contemplation, of
earthly things the sovereignty and dominion. She
bestows in abundance on all the senses what every
element contains,* on the mind, as on a mighty king,
through the senses as its squires, all that they per-
ceive, without them all that reason apprehends. If
the guardians of the children cut them off from these
blessings, if at their very birth they deny themall share
in them, they must rest assured that they are breaking
the laws of Nature and stand self-condemned on the
gravest charges, love of pleasure, hatred of men,
murder and, the worst abomination of all, murder of
their own children. For they are pleasure-lovers
when they mate with their wives, not to procreate
children and perpetuate the race, but like pigs and
goats in quest of the enjoyment which such inter-
course gives. Men-haters too, for who could more
deserve the name than these enemies, these merciless
foes of their offspring? For no one is so foolish as to
suppose that those who have treated dishonourably
their own flesh and blood will deal honourably with
strangers. As to the charges of murder in general
and murder of their own children in particular the
clearest proofs of their truth is supplied by the
parents. Some of them do the deed with their own
hands ; with monstrous cruelty and barbarity they
stifle and throttle the first breath which the infants
draw or throw them into a river or into the depths of
the sea, after attaching some heavy substance to make
them sink more quickly under its weight. Others
take them to be exposed in some desert place, hoping,
they themselves say, that they may be saved, but
leaving them in actual truth to suffer the most dis-
tressing fate. For all the beasts that feed on human

547

112

113

115

116
[319]

117

PHILO

κῶν ἅπτεται θηρία, μηδενὸς ἀνείργοντος, ἐπιφοιτᾷ
A “-ς “- “-ς e
καὶ εὐωχεῖται τῶν βρεφῶν, καλῆς θοίνης, ἣν οἱ
’ ’ A A “- 3) ’ 9 ὔ
μόνοι κηδεμόνες καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων σῴζειν ὀφεί-
λοντες, πατὴρ καὶ μήτηρ, προὔθεσαν: καὶ τὰ
“- ~ ~ e
λείψανα μέντοι προσεπιλιχμῶνται τῶν οἰωνῶν οἱ
’
σαρκοβόροι καταπτάντες, ὅταν μὴ προαίσθωνται"
9 “-
αἰσθόμενοι γὰρ καὶ περὶ τῶν ὅλων' πρὸς τοὺς χερ-
σαίους θῆρας κονίονται. φέρε δ᾽ οὖν | τῶν ὁδῷ
παριόντων τινὰς ἡμέρῳ κινηθέντας πάθει λαβεῖν
οἶκτον καὶ ἔλεον τῶν ἐκτεθέντων, ὡς ἀνελέσθαι τε
A “-ς “- ,
καὶ τροφῆς μεταδοῦναι καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἐπιμελείας
ἀξιῶσαι" ταυτὶ τὰ οὕτως χρηστὰ ἔργα τί νομίζομεν;
S “-ς YA 9 ς
ἄρ᾽ οὐ τῶν γεννησάντων εἶναι καταδίκην," εἴ γ᾽ οἱ
A iAA 4, A 4. e€ ὃ A “- 50 A A “--
μὲν ἀλλότριοι τὰ γονέων, οἱ δὲ γονεῖς οὐδὲ τὰ τῶν
’ 9 ,
ἀλλοτρίων εἰς εὔνοιαν ἐπετήδευσαν;
Π , > A A ” 6 9 A ὃ 9
dppwlev οὖν τὴν βρεφῶν ἔκθεσιν ἀπεῖπε δι
ὑπονοιῶν θάνατον, ὡς ἔφην, ὁρίσας κατὰ τῶν
9 ’ 9 ’ A , " ee ’
αἰτίων ἀμβλώσεως τὰ μεμορφωμένα ἤδη κυϊσκού-
VA A
σαις" καίτοι τὰ μὲν ETL KATA γαστρὸς προσεχόμενα
τῇ μήτρᾳ τῶν κυουσῶν εἶναι μέρη λέγεται παρά
τε φυσικοῖς ἀνδράσιν, οἷς ὁ θεωρητικὸς διαπονεῖ-
ται βίος, καὶ παρὰ ἰατρῶν τοῖς δοκιμωτάτοις, οἵ
A > 9
τὴν ἀνθρώπου κατασκευὴν διηρεύνησαν τά T ἐν
3 A A 9 “-ς 9 9 ’ 9 9 “--
ὄψει καὶ τὰ ἀφανῆ μετ᾽ ἐπιμελείας ἐξ ἀνατομῆς
9 9
ἀκριβώσαντες, ἵν᾽, εἰ χρεία τις γένοιτο θεραπείας,
μηδὲν ἀγνοίᾳ παρολιγωρηθὲν αἴτιον μεγάλου
. 1 Mss. καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὁδῶν OF καὶ τῶν ὅλων.
2 MSS. καταδίκη ΟΥ̓ καταδίκας.
α The word ἀνελέσθαι probably carries with it the technical ᾿
548

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 115-117

flesh visit the spot and feast unhindered on the infants,
a fine banquet provided by their sole guardians, those
who above all others should keep them safe, their
fathers and mothers. Carnivorous birds, too, come
flying down and gobble up the fragments, that is,
if they have not discovered them earlier, for, if they
have, they get ready to fight the beasts of the field
for the whole carcase. But suppose some passing 116
travellers, stirred by humane feeling, take pity and
compassion on the castaways and in consequence
raise them up,” give them food and drink, and do
not shrink from paying all the other attentions which
they need, what do we think of such highly charitable
actions? Do we not consider that those who brought
them into the world stand condemned when strangers
play the part of parents, and parents do not behave
with even the kindness of strangers ?

So Moses then, as I have said, implicitly and in- 117
directly forbade the exposure of children, when he
pronounced the sentence of death against those who
cause the miscarriage of mothers in cases where the
foetus is fully formed. No doubt the view that the
child while still adhering to the womb below the
belly is part of its future mother is current both
among natural philosophers whose life study is
concerned with the theoretical side of knowledge
and also among physicians of the highest repute,
who have made researches into the construction of
man and examined in detail what is visible and
also by the careful use of anatomy what is hidden
from sight, in order that if medical treatment is
required nothing which could cause serious danger

sense of “taking up’’ or acknowledgment by the father.
Lat. tollere. See L. & 5.

549

118

119

PHILO

κινδύνου γένηται. τὰ δ᾽ ἀποκυηθέντα τῆς τε
συμφυΐας ἀπέζευκται καὶ διυφειμένα καθ᾽ αὑτὰ
ζῷα γέγονεν οὐδενὸς ἐπιδεᾶ τῶν ὅσα συμπληρωτικὰ
τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεώς ἐστιν, ὥστε ἀνενδοιάστως
ἀνδροφόνον εἶναι τὸν βρέφος a ἀναιροῦντα, τοῦ νόμου
μὴ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τῷ γένει παρα-
σπονδουμένῳ δυσχεραίνοντος. εἰ μέντοι καὶ ἡλι-
κιῶν ἔδει προμηθεῖσθαι, δοκεῖ μοί τις ἂν δεόντως
ἀγανακτῆσαι μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀναιροῦσι βρέφη"
πρὸς μὲν γὰρ τοὺς τελείους μυρίαι προφάσεις
εὔλογοι προσκρουσμάτων τε καὶ διαφορῶν, τοῖς δὲ
κομιδῇ νηπίοις ἄρτι παρεληλυθόσιν εἰς φῶς καὶ τὸν
ἀνθρώπινον βίον οὐδ᾽ ἐπιψεύσασθαι κατηγορίαν
ἀκακωτάτοις οὖσιν ἐνδέχεται. διὸ πάντων ὠμό-
τατοι καὶ ἀνηλεέστατοι κριθεῖεν ἂν ot ἐπαποδυό-
μενοι ταῖς τούτων ἐπιβουλαῖς, οὗς ἐχθαίρων ὁ ἱερὸς
νόμος ἐνόχους ἀπεφήνατο.

120 ΧΧΙ. 'Τὸν μὴ ἑκουσίῳ γνώμῃ τοῦ κτείναντος

121

ἀναιρεθέντα φησὶν ὁ ἱερὸς νόμος παραδεδόσθαι ὑ ὑπὸ
θεοῦ χερσὶν ἀνδροφόνοις, τῇ μὲν ἀπολογούμενος
ὑπὲρ τοῦ δόξαντος ἀνελεῖν ὡς ἔνοχον ἀνελόντος---
μὴ γὰρ av ποτε τὸν ἵλεω καὶ συγγνώμονα θεὸν ἐπ᾽
ἀναιρέσει τόν γε ἀναίτιον ἐκδοῦναι, ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις τὰς
μὲν παρὰ ἀνθρώποις κρίσεις εὐμηχάνως ἕνεκα τοῦ
πολυτρόπου διαδιδράσκει, πρὸς δὲ τὸ τῆς “φύσεως
ἀχθεὶς ἀφανὲς δικαστήριον ἑάλω, ἐν ᾧ μόνῳ

1 mss. heading Περὶ ἀκουσίου φόνου.

4 See note (App.) on § 109.

> Ex. xxi. 138. E.V “If a man lie not in wait, but God
deliver him into his hand,” ¢.e. if he is killed by accident
(Driver), ‘then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall
flee.” For the first words the txx has “he that did not

550

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 118-121

should be neglected through ignorance. But when 118
the child has been brought to the birth it is separ-
ated from the organism with which it was identified
and being isolated and self-contained becomes a
living animal, lacking none of the complements
needed to make a human being.“ And therefore
infanticide undoubtedly is murder, since the dis-
pleasure of the law is not concerned with ages but
with a breach of faith to the race. Though indeed, if 119
age had to be taken into consideration, infanticide to
my mind gives a greater cause for indignation, for in
the case of adults quarrels and differences supply
any number of reasonable pretexts, but with mere
babes, who have just passed into the light and the
life of human kind, not even a false charge can be
brought against such absolute innocence. Therefore

_ those who gird themselves up to conspire against such

as these must be judged to be the cruellest and most
ruthless of men. The holy law detests them and has
pronounced them worthy of punishment.

XXI. The holy law describes the man who has been 120
slain without the deliberate intention of him who
did the deed as having been delivered by God into
the manslayer’s hands.® In this phrase it is partly
defending one who has admittedly taken the life of
another on the ground that it was the life of a guilty
person. For it assumes that a merciful and forgiving 121
God would never surrender an innocent man to be
done to death but only one who having been enabled
by his resourcefulness to make a skilful escape from
the justice of men has been arraigned and condemned
in the invisible court of Nature, that court in which

intend it” (ὁ δὲ οὐχ ἕκων). For Philo’s conception of ἀκούσιος
φόνος see App. pp. 637-638.
551

PHILO

9 A 9 , ec an 4 4 9
τἀληθὲς ἀκραιφνέστατον ὁρᾶται, λόγων. τέχναις οὐκ
ἐπισκιαζόμενον, οὐδὲ γὰρ λόγους τὴν ἀρχὴν παρα-
δέχεται βουλήματα ἀπαμπίσχον καὶ διανοίας ἀ-
φανεῖς εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἀγον---, τῇ δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀν-

᾽ὔ ’ὔ A 9 ~ e 4 ΨΦ ’ὔ 4
ελόντα φόνῳ μὲν od ποιῶν ὑπόδικον ἅτε θείᾳ κρίσει

4 “A
δόξαντα ὑπηρετῆσαι, μιάσματι δὲ ἀδηλουμένῳ Kal

a 4
[320] βραχεῖ πάντως, ὃ παραιτητὸν καὶ | συγγνωστόν
“-- \ A

122 ἐστι. χρῆται yap ὁ θεὸς τοῖς ὀλίγα καὶ ἰάσιμα
διαμαρτάνουσι κατὰ τῶν μέγιστα καὶ ἀνίατα
ἠδικηκότων ὑπηρέταις κολάσεως, οὐκ ἐκείνους
9 ’ 9 9 e “, 9 4
ἀποδεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾽ ws ἂν ὄργανα παραλαμβάνων
3 ᾽
ἐπιτήδεια πρὸς τιμωρίαν, ἵνα μηδεὶς ὅλῳ βίῳ

“- \
καθαρὸς ὧν καὶ ἐκ καθαρῶν φόνου, κἂν δικαιότατος
5 “- ’

123 > προσάψηται. φυγὴν οὖν κατὰ τοῦ κτείναντος
ἀκουσίως ὥρισεν, οὐχ ὅπῃ τύχοι οὐδ᾽ εἰς ἀεί: πόλεις
μὲν γὰρ ἕξ ἀπένειμεν, ὀγδόην μοῖραν ὧν ἔλαχεν ἡ
e a “¢ “- A
ἱερωμένη φυλή, τοῖς ἁλοῦσιν, ἃς ἀπὸ τοῦ συμ-

, > ) a , 294 , \
βεβηκότος ὠνόμασε “ φυγαδευτηρίων ᾿᾽"" χρόνον δὲ

“A “A ’ A
τῆς φυγῆς τὸν βίον τοῦ ἀρχιερέως προσενομοθέτησε
κάθοδον μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν ἐπιτρέπων.

- 5. », ᾿ , 19 ,
194 XXII. αἰτία δὲ τούτου pév® προτέρα
ἧδε: ἡ λεχθεῖσα φυλὴ τὰς πόλεις εἴληφεν ἄθλον
A ἃ “-
ἀνδροφονίας εὐαγοῦς, ἣν ἀριστειῶν ὅσαι πώποτε
γεγόνασιν ἐπιφανεστάτην καὶ μεγίστην ὑποληπτέον.
1 mss. φυγαδευτήριον (-ου) (-α).
2 The μὲν seems out of place. I suggest τούτου (ἡΣ μὲν.

* 4,6. setting the slayer to be His executioner, God marks
him as one of a less worthy type. Philo is assigning a reason
for the φυγή, which he regards rather as a sentence of banish-
ment than as an escape from vengeance.

552

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 121-124

truth is seen in perfect purity, which is not beclouded
by verbal artifices, since it never accepts words at
all but unveils motives and brings hidden intentions
into open daylight. Partly, too, it lays the manslayer
under the imputation, not indeed of murder, since
he is held to have been the minister of divine judge-
ment, but of a defilement of little note and quite
insignificant, for which pardon may well be asked
and. granted.* For in inflicting chastisement on
offenders whose deeds have been evil beyond all
remedy God uses as His ministers those whose sins
are few and easily remedied, though He does not
show approval of them but merely takes them as
suitable instruments of vengeance. For He would
not wish that anyone whose whole life is stainless
and his lineage also should set his hand to homicide
however justly deserved. He therefore sentenced the
involuntary manslayer to go into exile, but not just
anywhere nor yet for all time. For He assigned to
persons convicted under this head six cities, an eighth
part of those allotted to the consecrated tribe, a fact
recorded in the name of “ cities of refuge ᾿᾿ which He
gave to them, and by a further edict He limited the
time of banishment to the life of the high priest, after
whose death the exile should be permitted to return.°

XXII. ¢The first reason for this is as
follows : the aforesaid tribe received the cities as a
reward for a righteous slaughter which we must
regard as the most illustrious act of heroism that has

> Num. xxxv. 6, 11-15.

ὁ Ibid. 28.

4 For 88 124-127 see Ex. xxxii. Philo here recurs to the
story which he has already told at length in Mos. ii. 159 ff.
and 270 ff., to say nothing of shorter accounts in De Ebr. 67,
and above, i. 79.

553

122

—

23

124

125

126

127

PHILO

ἡνίκα γὰρ ὁ “προφήτης εἰς τὸ περιμηκέστατον καὶ
ἱερώτατον τῶν κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον ὀρῶν ἀνα-
κληθεὶς ἐθεσπίζετο τὰ γένη τῶν ἐν εἴδει νόμων
καὶ πλείους 7) ἦν ἀφανὴς ἡμέρας, οἱ μὴ τὰς φύσεις
εἰρηνικοὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀναρχίας κακιῶν' πάντα κατ-
ἔπλησαν καὶ τέλος προσέθηκαν ἀσέβειαν" τὰς μὲν
ἀρίστας καὶ καλὰς ὑφηγήσεις περὶ τῆς τοῦ ὄντως
ὄντος θεοῦ τιμῆς χλευάσαντες, ταῦρον δὲ κατα-
σκευασάμενοι χρυσοῦν, Αἰγυπτιακοῦ μίμημα τύφου,
θυσίας ἀνῆγον ἀθύτους καὶ ἑορτὰς ἀνεόρτους καὶ
χοροὺς ἀχορεύτους ἐπετέλουν σὺν φδαῖς καὶ ὕμνοις
ἀντὶ θρήνων. ἡ δὲ λεχθεῖσα φυλὴ πάνυ χαλεπῶς
ἐνεγκοῦσα τὴν αἰφνίδιον ἐκδιαίτησιν καὶ ζήλῳ
πυρωθεῖσα διὰ μισοπόνηρον πάθος, ὑπόπλεῳ πάντες
ὀργῆς, μεμηνότες, ἐνθουσιῶντες, ὡς ἀφ᾽ ἑνὸς
συνθήματος ὁπλισάμενοι, διττὴν μεθύοντας μέθην,
τὴν μὲν ἀσεβείᾳ, τὴν δὲ οἴνῳ, μάλα καταφρονη-
τικῶς ἐπιστροφάδην ἀνήρουν, ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκειοτάτων
καὶ φιλτάτων ἀρξάμενοι, φίλον καὶ συγγένειαν ἕν
τὸ "θεοφιλὲς εἶναι νομίζοντες" καὶ βραχεῖ “μέρει
ἡμέρας τέσσαρες πρὸς ταῖς εἴκοσι χιλιάδες ἀνῃρέ-
θησαν, ὧν αἱ συμφοραὶ τοὺς συναπονοεῖσθαι μέλ-
οντας ἐνουθέτησαν, δέει τοῦ μὴ τὰ παραπλήσια
παθεῖν. ταύτην τὴν στρατείαν ἐθελουργὸν καὶ
αὐτοκέλευστον ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας καὶ ὁσιότητος τῆς"
1 MSS. κακῶν.
2 MSS. τὴν.

« This certainly is the sense required for this passive (or
middle?) of θεσπίζω, but no other examples seem forthcoming,
unless De Abr. 262 ots Μωυσῆς ἐθεσπίσθη. is to be taken in
the sense of ‘‘ was inspired to give’’ instead of ‘‘ prophesied.”
See note there.

554

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 125-127

ever been achieved. When the prophet, summoned 125

up to the highest and most sacred mountain in that
region, was receiving* from God the heads which sum
up the particular laws, and had disappeared for several
days, the born enemies of peace had diffused through
every part of the camp the vices that spring up in
the ruler’s absence and had crowned them with
impiety. They mocked at the most excellent and
admirable injunctions which bade them honour the
truly existing God, constructed a golden bull in
imitation of the vanity of Egypt, offered sacrifices
which were no sacrifices, held feasts which were no
feasts and danced dances of death with songs and
hymns which should have been dirges.2. Then this
same tribe, sorely distressed at the sudden backsliding
and fired with zeal by their heart-felt hatred of evil,
every man of them filled with rage, frenzied, pos-
sessed, took arms as if at one signal,° and despising
all thoughts of danger mowed down their foes drunk
with the twofold intoxication of impiety and wine.
They began with their nearest and dearest, for they
acknowledged no love nor kinship but God's love, and
in the space of a few hours 24,0004 had fallen whose
fate served as a warning through fear that they might
suffer the like to those who were on the brink of

126

sharing their delusion. This campaign, waged spon- 127

taneously and instinctively on behalf of piety and

ὃ Much the same phraseology as in Mos. ii. 162, except
that there the χόρους coupled with ἵστασαν signifies the dancers
rather than, as here, the dances.

¢ The same phrase as in Mos. ii. 170.

4 A slip for 3000 (given correctly De Hbr. 67 and Mos.
ii. 274), induced by confusion with Num. xxv. 9, where Philo
= a similar slaughter rather than a plague. See Mos. i. 304
and note.

555

[321]
128

129

PHILO

εἰς τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν γενομένην οὐκ ἄνευ με-

γάλων κινδύνων τοῖς ἀραμένοις τοὺς ἀγῶνας αὐτὸς

6 πατὴρ τῶν ὅλων ἀπεδέξατο καὶ τοὺς ἀνελόντας

δικάσας παρ᾽ αὑτῷ καθαροὺς εἶναι παντὸς ἄγους |

A 4 ,

Kal μιάσματος ἱερωσύνην τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας τούτοις

9 aA A om 9 4

ἀντιδωρεῖται. XXIII. τὸν οὖν ἀκούσιον

’ 4 ’ A 9 > », ae er
δράσαντα φόνον κελεύει φυγεῖν εἰς ἐνίας ὧν ἔλαχον
’ ~~ A
οὗτοι πόλεις ἕνεκα παρηγορίας Kal ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ
3
ἀπογινώσκειν τὴν εἰς ἅπαν ἀσφάλειαν, ὑπομιμνῃ-
σκόμενον ἐκ τοῦ τόπου τὸ ἄφοβον καὶ λογιζόμενον,
A ’
ὅτι τοῖς ἑκουσίως ἀπεκτονόσιν οὐ μόνον ἀμνηστία
A
δέδοται ἀλλὰ Kal γέρα μεγάλα Kal περιμάχητα καὶ
a 29. , 3 \ , \ a
πολλῆς εὐδαιμονίας, εἰ δὲ τούτοις, πολὺ μᾶλλον
aA > “-ο ~

Tots μὴ ἐκ προνοίας ἀνελοῦσιν, εἰ Kal μηδὲν τῶν

> " “A 9 \ ~ A

ἐπὶ τιμῇ, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸ γοῦν τὸ πανύστατον, μὴ

9 “-ο ’ \ A a“

ἀνταναιρεθῆναι" δι᾿ οὗ παρίσταται TO μὴ πᾶσαν

> 4 > » 9 A A A 9 ’ ’
ἀνδροφονίαν ἐπίληπτον ἀλλὰ τὴν σὺν ἀδικίᾳ μόνην
“- A A 4
εἶναι, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπαινετὴν μὲν THY κατὰ πόθον
\ on “-- A >. ,

Kat ζῆλον ἀρετῆς, ov ψεκτὴν δὲ τὴν ἀκούσιον.
ἡ ὃ A > » 4 λ λ 4 A ὃ
ἥδε μὲν αἰτία προτέρα λελέχθω, δευ-

’ὔ 9 > + 4 4 e 4 A
tépav δ᾽ αὐτίκα μηνυτέον: βούλεται ὁ νόμος Tov
ἀκουσίως ἀποκτείναντα διασῴζειν, εἰδὼς γνώμῃ

A 4 “A “-
μὲν οὐκ ἔνοχον χερσὶ δὲ ὑπηρετήσαντα τῇ τῶν

> ’ 3 4 ’ 4 3 ,

ἀνθρωπίνων ἐφόρῳ δίκῃ πραγμάτων: ἐφεδρεύουσι

γὰρ ἐχθροὶ φονῶντες οἱ τοῦ τεθνεῶτος ἀγχιστεῖς,

a 9 ¢ ’ 4 1 . + 9 ’
ot δι᾿ ὑπερβάλλοντα οἶκτον καὶ πένθος ἀπαρηγόρη-

4“ The first reason for the choice of the Levitical cities was
that their history shewed that homicide was not necessarily a

crime. The second was that their superior sanctity made
them a more secure refuge.

556

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 127-129

holiness towards the truly existing God and fraught
with much danger to those who undertook it, was
approved by none other than the Father of all Who
took it upon Himself to judge the cause of those who
wrought the slaughter, declared them pure from any
curse of bloodguiltiness and gave them the priest-
hood as a reward for their gallantry.

XXIII. So then he bids the unintentional homicide 128
flee to some of the cities allotted to this tribe, there
to gain consolation and be saved from despairing of
salvation altogether. There the place will remind
him of the fearless courage once shewn in the past ;
there he may reflect that those who shed blood in-
tentionally received not only full pardon but also
rewards great and much to be desired and fraught
with abundant happiness; and that, if they fared
thus, much more will those whose act was not pre-
meditated receive, not indeed such privileges as
confer honour, but at least the lowest and last that
they do not pay for the blood they have shed with
their own. This shews that not every kind of homi-
cide is culpable but only that which entails injustice,
and that as for the other kinds if it is caused by an
ardent yearning for virtue it is laudable and if un-
intentional it is free from blame. No 129
more need be said about the first reason ; we must
proceed at once to explain the second.? The law
wishes to preserve the unintentional homicide, as
it recognizes that in intention he was free from guilt,
and that with his hands he had been the servant of
justice, the overseer of human affairs. It knows
that watching and waiting for him are blood-thirsty
enemies, the kinsmen of the dead man, urged on to
vengeance by overwhelming pity and inconsolable

557

PHILO

τον ἵενται πρὸς ἄμυναν ἀλόγῳ φορᾷ τἀληθὲς καὶ
180 τὸ φύσει δίκαιον οὐκ ἐξετάζοντες. ἐπέτρεψεν οὖν
τῷ τοιούτῳ καταφεύγειν οὔτε εἰς ἱερὸν ἅτε μήπω
κεκαθαρμένῳ οὔτε εἰς ἠμελημένον καὶ ἀφανὲς
χωρίον, ἵνα μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἐκδοθῇ καταφρονηθείς, ἀλλ᾽
εἰς ἱερόπολιν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἱεροῦ καὶ βεβήλου τόπου
μεθόριος, τρόπον τινὰ δεύτερον ἱ ἱερόν" at γὰρ τῶν
ἱερωμένων πόλεις σεμνότεραι. τῶν ἄλλων εἰσίν, ἐφ᾽
ὅσον, οἶμαι, καὶ οἰκήτορες οἰκητόρων ἐντιμότεροι:
βούλεται γὰρ τῇ τῆς ὑποδεξαμένης προνομίᾳ βε-
βαιοτάτην ἀσφάλειαν περιποιῆσαι τῷ καταφυγόντι.
131 χρόνον δ᾽, ὡς ἔφην, ὥρισε τῆς καθόδου
τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου ἱερέως τελευτὴν αἰτίας ἕνεκα
τοιᾶσδε: ὥσπερ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου τῶν δολοφονηθέντων
οἱ συγγενεῖς εἰσιν ἔφεδροι τῆς κατὰ τῶν δολο-
φονησάντων δίκης καὶ τιμωρίας, οὕτως καὶ τοῦ
σύμπαντος ἔθνους συγγενὴς καὶ ἀγχιστεὺς κοινὸς
ὁ ἀρχιερεύς ἐστι, πρυτανεύων μὲν τὰ δίκαια τοῖς
ἀμφισβητοῦσι κατὰ τοὺς νόμους, εὐχὰς δὲ καὶ
θυσίας τελῶν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν καὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ
αἰτούμενος ὡς ὑπὲρ ἀδελφῶν καὶ γονέων καὶ
τέκνων, ἵνα πᾶσα ἡλικία καὶ πάντα μέρη τοῦ
ἔθνους ὡς ἑνὸς σώματος εἰς μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν
ἁρμόζηται κοινωνίαν εἰρήνης καὶ εὐνομίας ἐφιέμενα.
132 τοῦτον οὖν εὐλαβείσθω πᾶς 6 ἀκουσίως ἀνελὼν ὡς
ὑπέρμαχον καὶ προαγωνιστὴν τῶν ἀναιρεθέντων καὶ

1 MSS. τὰ μέρη.

@ Philo’s explanations in §§ 131-136 of “till the death of
the high priest’’ are (1) that the high priest, as representing
the nation, is bound to inflict the punishment which the

558

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 129-132

grief, and so carried away by unreasoning passion that
they do not inquire what is true or essentially just.
It therefore permitted such a one to fly for refuge, 130
not to the holy temple, since he had not yet been
purged, nor yet to some obscure and insignificant
place where he might easily be surrendered as one of
little account, but to a holy city which comes midway
between holy and profane ground and is in a sense a
secondary temple. For the cities of the consecrated
order compared with the others receive a higher
reverence, corresponding, I consider, to the honour
paid to their respective occupants. The law wished
in fact to use the superior rank of the city which
gave them shelter to put the safety of the fugitive on
the firmest possible footing. ¢ When, as 131
I said, it appointed the death of the high priest as the
date for the exile’s return, it did so for some such reason
as this. Just as each single individual who is wilfully
murdered has kinsmen to inflict vengeance on the
murderer, so too the whole nation has a kinsman and
close relative common to all in the high priest, who
as ruler dispenses justice to litigants according to the
law, who day by day offers prayers and sacrifices and
asks for blessings, as for his brothers and parents and
children, that every age and every part of the nation
regarded as a single body may be united in one and
the same fellowship, making peace and good order
their aim. Everyone, then, who has slain another 132
unintentionally must fear the high priest as a
champion and defender of the slain and keep himself
fugitive incurs by leaving his refuge; (2) that he is a theoreti-
cally perfect character and will therefore refuse to tolerate the
presence of even the involuntary offender. In the first case

the φυγή is regarded as a refuge, in the second as exile (as in
§ 128). See further App. p. 638.

559

[829]

133

134

135

136

PHILO

εἴσω τῆς πόλεως εἰς ἣν κατέφυγε κατακεκλείσθω, |
μὴ ἐπιθαρρῶν ἔξω προέρχεσθαι τειχῶν, εἰ δή τινα
ποιεῖται λόγον ἀσφαλείας καὶ τοῦ ζῆν ἀκινδύνως.
ὅταν οὖν «λέγῃ is μὴ ἐπανίτω ὁ φυγάς, ἕως ἂν
ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ μέγας, ἴσον τι τούτῳ φησίν"
ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ πάντων κοινὸς ἀγχιστεύς, ᾧ
μόνῳ καὶ τὰ τῶν ζώντων καὶ τὰ τῶν τετελευτη-
κότων ἐφεῖται βραβεύειν. XXIV. τὴν
μὲν οὖν καὶ νεωτέρων ἀκοαῖς ἐφαρμόζουσαν αἰτίαν
τοιαύτην εἶναι συμβέβηκεν. ἣν δὲ πρεσβυτέροις καὶ
τελείοις τὸ ἦθος θέμις ἀναφέρειν, ἥδ᾽ ἐστί: τῶν μὲν
ἑκουσίων ἀδικημάτων αὐτὸ μόνον ἰδιώτας καθ-
αρεύειν ἐφείσθω, λεγέτω δ᾽ εἰ βούλεταί τις καὶ
τοὺς ἄλλους ἱερεῖς, ἀμφοτέρων δ᾽ ἑκουσίων τε καὶ
ἀκουσίων κατὰ τὸν ἐξαίρετον λόγον τὸν ἀρχιερέα.
προσάπτεσθαι γὰρ αὐτῷ μιάσματος τὸ σύνολον οὐ
θεμιτόν, οὔτ᾽ ἐκ προνοίας οὔτε κατὰ τροπὴν τῆς
ψυχῆς ἀβούλητον, ἵνα ἱεροφάντης ὦ ὧν κοσμῆται καθ᾽
ἑκάτερον, διανοίᾳ τε χρώμενος ἀνεπιλήπτῳ καὶ
εὐπραγίᾳ βίου, ᾧ μηδὲν ὄνειδος πρόσεστι. τῷ δὴ

τοιούτῳ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἀκόλουθον ὑποβλέπεσθαι. καὶ
τοὺς ἀκουσίως ἀπεκτονότας οὐχ ws ἐναγεῖς,
ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ws καθαροὺς καὶ παντὸς ἀμετόχους
ἁμαρτήματος, καὶ εἰ τὰ μάλιστα τοῖς τῆς φύσεως

1 Cohn expunged the οὐχ, quite wrongly, I think; see
note 6.

@ While the second explanation has something in common
with the allegorical interpretation in De Fuga 108 f., it is
difficult to see why as it stands it is more suitable for older
ears than the other. Perhaps the idea is that it involves the
theological and somewhat mystical distinction between volun-
tary and involuntary sins on which Philo often dwells in his
allegorical disquisitions, cf. e.g. De Ebr. 125.

560

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 132-136

shut up within the city in which he has taken refuge,
never venturing to shew himself outside the walls,
that is, if he sets any value on his safety, or on a life
secure from danger. When, then, he says that the
exile must not return till the death of the high priest,
it is as much as to say till the death of the common
kinsman of all, who alone has authority to arbitrate
on the rights both of the living and the dead.
XXIV. Such is the reason which we find suitable to
younger ears, but for elders and those whose character
is fully developed there is another which may pro-
perly be given.* For laymen it may be allowed that
it is enough to keep undefiled from voluntary mis-
deeds only, and anyone who likes may say the same
of the other priests, but he must make an exception
of the high priest and agree that he needs to be
innocent of the involuntary as well as the voluntary.
The contact with pollution of any kind is forbidden
to him, whether it is the result of definite purpose or
of some movement of the soul which he has not
willed, for only so can he take his place as revealer
in both aspects, his motives blameless and his life so
fortunate that no stigma attaches to it. It is a
necessary consequence that such a one should include
in the objects of his displeasure the unintentional
homicides, regarding them not indeed as accursed,
but yet not pure or free from sin of every kind, how-
ever much they are admitted to have ministered to
ὃ Cohn’s rejection of ody, though accepted by Heinemann,
seems to me unreasonable. ἐναγεῖς is a strong word, and to
negative it perfectly agrees with the description of uninten-
tional homicide as a pollution of little note (§ 121). Apart

from this, ἀλλά does not suit the parallelism, which Cohn’s
text demands, between ἐναγεῖς and οὐ καθαρούς. :

VOL. VII 20 561

133

134

135

136

PHILO

ὑπηρετῆσαι βουλήμασιν ἔδοξαν τισαμένης διὰ
τούτων τοὺς ἀναιρεθέντας, ὧν ἀφανῶς αὐτὴ" δι-
κάσασα παρ᾽ ἑαυτῇ θάνατον κατέγνω.

XXV. Ταῦτα μὲν ἐπ᾽ ἐλευθέροις καὶ ἀστοῖς" ἑξῆς
δὲ καὶ περὶ οἰκετῶν νομοθετεῖται βιαίως ἀν-
αἱρεθέντων.

137 ᾿Θεράποντες τύχῃ μὲν ἐλάττονι κέχρηνται, φύσεως
δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς μεταποιοῦνται τοῖς δεσπόταις. τῷ δὲ
θείῳ νόμῳ κανὼν τῶν δικαίων ἐστὶν οὐ τὸ τῆς
τύχης ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς φύσεως € ἐναρμόνιον. διὸ προσ-
ήκει τοὺς κυρίους μὴ κατακόρως χρῆσθαι ταῖς
ἐξουσίαις κατὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν, ἀλαζονείαν καὶ
ὑπεροψίαν καὶ δεινὴν ὠμότητα ἐπιδεικνυμένους"
ταῦτα γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι δείγματα ψυχῆς εἰρηνικῆς ἀλλ᾽
ὑπὸ ἀκρασίας τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον uF οὔσης κατὰ

138 τυραννικὴν δυναστείαν. ὁ γὰρ τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν οἰκίαν
ὥσπερ ἄκραν ἐπιτειχίσας, παρρησίας δὲ τῶν ἔνδον

μηδενὶ μεταδιδούς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἠγριωμένος
ὑπὸ τῆς ἐμφύτου τάχα δὲ καὶ ἐπιτετηδευμένης
μισανθρωπίας, τύραννός ἐστιν ἐλάττοσι παρα-

139 σκευαῖς χρώμενος. ἐξ ὧν διελέγχεται μὴ στη-
᾿ σόμενος ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν, εἰ μειζόνων λάβοιτο
χρημάτων: διαβήσεται γὰρ εὐθὺς ἐπὶ πόλεις τε καὶ
χώρας καὶ ἔθνη τὴν αὑτοῦ πατρίδα προδουλω-
σάμενος εἰς ἔνδειξιν τοῦ μηδενὶ μέλλειν τῶν ἄλλων

140 ὑπηκόων ἡμέρως προσφέρεσθαι. σαφῶς οὖν ὁ
τοιοῦτος ἴστω μὴ τὴν τοῦ συνεχῶς καὶ εἰς πολλοὺς

[323] ἁμαρτάνειν | ἄδειαν ἕξων' ἐναντιώσεται γὰρ ἡ

1 So mss.: Cohn corrects to αὕτη. In view of the common
conjunction between αὐτός and the reflexive, I think the ms.
reading is preferable.

2 ms. heading Κατὰ τῶν οἰκέτας κτεινόντων.

562

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 186-140

Nature’s will, who has used them as instruments of
vengeance against those who have fallen by their
hands, condemned to death in the secret tribunal
where she sits as sole judge.

XXV. What has been said applies to free-born
persons of citizen rank; the enactments which
follow deal with slaves whose death is caused by
violence.

@ Servants rank lower in fortune but in nature can 137

claim equality with their masters, and in the law of
God the standard of justice is adjusted to nature and
not to fortune. And therefore the masters should
not make excessive use of their authority over slaves
by showing arrogance and contempt and savage
cruelty. For these are signs of no peaceful spirit,
but of one so intemperate as to seek to throw off all
responsibility and take the tyrant’s despotism for
its model. He who has used his private house as a
sort of stronghold of defiance and allows no freedom
of speech to any of the inmates, but treats all with
the brutality created by his native or perhaps acquired
hatred for his fellow-men, is a tyrant with smaller
resources. By his use of them he gives proof that he
will not stay where he is, if he gets more wealth into
his hands, for he will pass on at once to attack cities
and countries and nations, after first reducing his own
fatherland to slavery, a sign that he will not deal
gently with any of his other subjects. Such a one
must clearly understand that his misconduct cannot
be prolonged or widely extended with immunity,
for he will have for his adversary justice, the hater

α Presumably these are non-Israelites, cf. ii. 123. For the
sentiments expressed cf. ii. 69. For the following sections see
Ex. xxi. 20, 21.

563

138

139

140

141

142

143

PHILO

4 9 A , e A \ e /
μισοπόνηρος αὐτῷ δίκη, ἡ βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπέρμαχος
A 9 , a / νι 9097. 2_\ ἊΝ
τῶν ἀδικηθέντων, ἣ λόγον καὶ εὐθύνας αὐτὸν τῆς
\ Ὁ :
περὶ τοὺς πεπονθότας συμφορᾶς ἀπαιτήσει" κἂν ἄρα
4 A
φάσκῃ πληγὰς ἕνεκα νουθεσίας ἐντεῖναι μὴ δια-
A A >
νοηθεὶς ἀνελεῖν, οὐκ εὐθὺς βαδιεῦται γεγηθώς, ἀλλ
εἰς δικαστήριον ἀπαχθεὶς παρ᾽ ἀκριβέσι λογισταῖς
lon 9 ’ὔ 9 ’ὔ la e A 9
τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξετασθήσεται, πότερον ἑκὼν ἀπ-
/ Nn 0 “A 9 A 9 /
ἔκτεινεν ἢ AKWV κὰν ἐπιβεβουλευκὼς ἀνευρίσκηται
γνώμῃ ἀνοσίῳ, θνῃσκέτω, μηδὲν παρόσον δε-
᾽ὔ lon
σπότης ἐστὶ κερδαίνων eis TO σωθῆναι.
oA A A 92 ἃ 3 “--ὠ j “-ς e /
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν οἱ τυπτηθέντες
9 “A 9 A ’ e 4 4 nv \ 4
ἀναιρεθῶσιν, ἀλλὰ βιώσωσιν ἡμέραν μίαν 7 καὶ δύο,
229 e / e 4 e / ” 4
μηκέθ᾽ ὁμοίως ὁ δεσπότης ὑπόδικος ἔστω φόνου,
4 9 > ’ a
πλεονέκτημα εἰς ἀπολογίαν πεπορισμένος TO μήτε
“A 4 > aA +N? ,
παραχρῆμα τύπτων ἀνελεῖν μήθ᾽ ὕστερον, ἔχων
A Ἁ > + 9 A A 9) Ψ “- 4 +
κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν, ἀλλὰ ζῆν ἐάσας ὅσον βιοῦν οἷοί
τε ἦσαν χρόνον, εἰ καὶ παντάπασιν ὀλίγον" χωρὶς
“-- / Φ 9 ’ 4 e A Ὁ
τοῦ μηδένα οὕτως ἠλίθιον εἷναι, ὡς λυπεῖν ἕτερον
ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἐν οἷς αὐτὸς ἀδικηθήσεται. κτείνων δέ
9. ) \ ee ε \ , ς
τις οἰκέτην πολὺ πρότερον ἑαυτὸν βλάπτει, ὑπ-

α The thought of justice as the adversary and the legal
process described in the next section probably spring from a
misunderstanding of Ex. xxi. 20. There, where the E.V. has
‘he shall surely be punished,” the txx has δίκῃ ἐκδικηθήσεται.
Philo, misunderstanding, as often, the Hebrew idiomatic way
of strengthening the verb, takes this to mean “he shall be
condemned by justice.”” He also interprets this to imply the
death-penalty, though the text points rather to a fine (see
Driver, ad loc.).

564

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 140-143

of evil, the defender and champion of the ill-used,
who will call upon him to give an account for the
unhappy condition of the sufferers.* And if he
alleges that the stripes he inflicted were meant as
a deterrent and not with the intention of causing
death, he shall not at once depart with a cheerful
heart, but will be brought before the court, there to
be examined under strict investigators of the truth
as to whether he meant to commit homicide or not ;
and if he is found to have acted with intentional
wickedness and with malice aforethought he must
die, and his position as master will avail him nothing
to escape the sentence. >But if the
sufferers do not die on the spot under the lash but
survive for one or perhaps two days, the situation is
different and the master is not to be held guilty of
murder. In this case he is provided with a valuable
plea, namely that he did not beat them to death at
the time nor yet later when he had them in his house,
but suffered them to live as long as they could, even
though that was quite a short time. Furthermore
he may argue that no one is so foolish as to try to
harm another when he himself will be wronged
thereby. And it is true that anyone who kills a slave
injures himself far more, as he deprives himself of

ὃ Ex. xxi. 21, ‘‘ Notwithstanding if he continue (Lxx
διαβιώσῃ., “ survive ’’) a day or two, he shall not be punished ;
for he is his money.” Philo understands the first part of this
to mean that the master will be acquitted on the grounds that
if he had intended to kill the slave he would have done so at
once. The last words, “for he is his money,’’ which probably
mean that the master will not be fined, as he anyhow loses
his property, are construed as a plea that he cannot have
intended to destroy a valuable possession. Philo fails to
observe that the plea would have been equally applicable if
the slave had died on the spot.

565

141

142

143

PHILO

~ ~ ’ Α
ηρεσιῶν τε ἃς παρὰ ζῶντος εἶχε στερόμενος καὶ
τὴν τιμὴν ζημιούμενος καὶ πλείστην ἴσως. ἐὰν

\

μέντοι θανάτου mempayws ἄξια τυγχάνῃ, πρὸς

\ \ 9 ’ \ , 4 950

τοὺς δικαστὰς ἀγέτω καὶ δηλούτω τὸ ἀδίκημα,

~ ~ \

τοὺς νόμους κυρίους ποιῶν τῆς τιμωρίας ἀλλὰ
μὴ ἑαυτόν.

9 ’ “-- ’ ’

14 XXVI. *’Eav τινα ταῦρος ἀναπείρας ἀποκτείνῃ,

λ , θ > \ \ e ’ \ ”
καταλευέσθω---ἀσφαγὴς yap ἱερείοις---καὶ ἄβρωτα
” «ὃ
ἔστω τὰ τούτου κρέα. διὰ τί; ὅτι τροφὴν ἢ

, ~ 3 θ ’ ’ θ A ~
προσόψημα τροφῆς ἀνθρώπων γίνεσθαι τὰ τοῦ

7 9 e ~
145 κτείναντος ἄνθρωπον οὐχ ὅσιον. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ TOU
9 ’ ,
κτήνους κύριος ἄγριον εἰδὼς καὶ ἀτίθασον μήτε
la , ’ Ud ’ \ \
καταδήσῃ μήτε κατακλείσας φυλάττῃ, τύχῃ δὲ καὶ
> “4
Tap ἑτέρων πεπυσμένος ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι χειρόηθες,
0 37 > , θ 4 ” ἐς ὃ
ἄφετον ἐάσας ἐκνέμεσθαι ὥσπερ αἴτιος ὑπόδικος
A € \
ἔστω" Kal TO μὲν ἀναπεῖραν αὐτίκα θνῃσκέτω, ὁ δὲ
κύριος προσαναιρείσθω ἢ λύτρα καὶ σῶστρα κατα-
θ ’ θ δ δὲ ὃ ’ὔ ω \ θ A Ἃ
τιθέσθω, τὸ δὲ δικαστήριον ὃ τι χρὴ παθεῖν ἢ
ἀποτῖσαι διαγνώσεται. εἰ μέντοι δοῦλος ὁ ἀν-
\ ” A \ 9 , α΄ ὃ ,
αἱρεθεὶς εἴη, THY τιμὴν ἐπανορθούσθω τῷ δεσπότῃ.
146 ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἄνθρωπον ἀλλὰ | κτῆνος ἀναπείρῃ, τὸ
[324] θ Α e “a ’ λ \ ὃ , Α

τεθνηκὸς ὃ τοῦ κτείναντος λαβὼν δεσπότης τὸ
ὅμοιον ἀποτισάτω, [διότι τὸ ἀνήμερον τοῦ ἰδίου

1 ms. heading Κατὰ ζῴων ἀλόγων ἃ παραίτια γίγνεται θανάτου.

@ For 88 144-146 see Ex. xxi. 28-32 and 35, 36.
> The stoning is probably to avoid contact, cf. Ex. xix. 13,
‘““no hand shall touch him but he shall surely be stoned or

566

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 143-146

the service which he receives from him when alive and
loses his value as a piece of property, which may
be possibly very considerable. When the slave has
committed some act worthy of death his master
should bring him before the judges and state the
offence, thus leaving the decision of the penalty with
the laws instead of keeping it in his own hands.

XXVI. If a bull gores a man and kills him, it must 144
be stoned,’ since it is not fit to be slaughtered as a
sacrifice, and its flesh must not be eaten. Why is
this? It is required by the law of holiness that the
flesh of an animal that has killed a man should not
be used as a foodstuff for men or to make their food
more palatable. If the owner of the animal knowing 145
that it is savage and wild has not tied it up nor kept it
shut up under guard,° or if he has had information
from others that it is unmanageable, he must be
held guilty as responsible for the death by allowing
it to range at large. And while the aggressive animal
is to be put to death at once, the owner must also
forfeit his life or else redeem it by a ransom, what
punishment he must suffer or what compensation he
must pay being left to the decision of the court. If,
however, it is a slave who is killed, he must make good
his value to the owner and if it has gored not a man 146
but one of the live-stock, here too the owner of the
beast which has caused its death must pay like for

shot through’ (with a dart). Philo seems to understand it
that any animal killed in the ordinary way is suitable for
sacrifice. :
¢ So E.V. “hath not kept him 1η.᾿ The txx has ἀφανίσῃ
αὐτόν --“" removed.’ or ‘‘ kept him out of the way.” Heine-
mann notes that here Philo is nearer to the Hebrew than to
the txx. But this may be merely accidental. His inter-
pretation of ἀφανίσῃ is a very natural one.
567

PHILO

προαισθανόμενος οὐκ ἐφυλάξατο: κἂν αὐτὸ μέντοι TO
θρέμμα ἀλλότριον ἀνέλῃ, πάλιν ὃ ὅμοιον ἀποτινέτῳ,
χάριν εἰδὼς ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ πλείονα ζημίαν ὑπομένειν
ἄρξας ἐ ἐπηρείας.

147 XXVII. ὁ Ορύγματα γῆς εἰώθασί τινες εὖ μάλα
βαθύνειν ἢ φλέβας πηγαζούσας ἀναστέλλοντες ἣ
πρὸς cet ee ὀμβρίου ὕδατος, εἶθ᾽ ὑπονόμους
εὐρύναντες ἀφανεῖς, δέον τὰ στόμια ἢ περιοικο-
δομῆσαι ἢ 7 περιπωμάσαι, κατά τινα δεινὴν ῥᾳθυμίαν
ἢ φρενοβλάβειαν ἐπ᾽ ὀλέθρῳ τινῶν εἴασαν ἀχανῆ.

148 ἐὰν οὖν τις τῶν ὁδῷ παριόντων μὴ προαισθόμενος
κατὰ. κενοῦ ἐπιβὰς ἐνεχθῇ καὶ τελευτήσῃ, ἐπι-
γραφέσθωσαν οἱ βουλόμενοι ὑπὲρ τοῦ τετελευτη-
κότος | πρὸς τοὺς τὸ ὄρυγμα ποιησαμένους καὶ
τιμάτω τὸ δικαστήριον ὅ τι χρὴ παθεῖν ἣ ἣ ἀποτῖσαι.
ἐὰν δὲ θρέμμα κατενεχθὲν ἀποθάνῃ, τὴν ἀξίαν τιμὴν
ὡς ζῶντος ἐπανορθούσθωσαν τῷ δεσπότῃ τὸ νεκρὸν

149 αὐτοὶ λαβόντες. ἀδελφὸν δὲ καὶ συγγενὲς ἀδίκημα
δρῶσι τῷ λεχθέντι καὶ ὅσοι κατασκευάζοντες οἰκίας
ἰσόπεδα καταλείπουσι τὰ τέγη, περιστεφανοῦν
θωρακίοις δέον ὑ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μή τινα κατακρημνισθῆναι
λαθόντα" φόνον γάρ, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, δρῶσι,

1 The words in brackets only appear in two mss. See
_ note a. 2 ms. heading Περὶ ὀρυγμάτων.

¢ Ex. xxi. 36, “pay bull for bull.” Philo, I think, rightly
interprets this to pay compensation enough to buy another
bull (or whatever the animal killed is), not as Goodenough,
to hand over his own (and vicious) bull to the other. ‘The
words expunged by Cohn (see note 1), ‘‘ because having
foreknowledge of the savageness of his own animal he has
not taken precautions; and if it kills the beast of another,
he must pay the like as compensation,” are absurdly super-

568

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 146-149

like,* taking the dead animal for his own, and be
thankful that as the original cause of the wanton
mischief he does not suffer a greater loss.’

XXVIII. ¢ It is a common practice with some people
to dig deep holes in the ground either when they are
opening veins of spring water or making receptacles
for the rain water. Then after widening the tunnels
out of sight, instead of walling the mouths in or cover-
ing them up with a lid as they should, through some
fatal carelessness or mental aberration they leave them
gaping as adeath-trap. If, then, some person walking
along does not notice them in time but steps on a
void and falls down and is killed, anyone who wishes
may bring an indictment on behalf of the dead man
against the makers of the pit, and the court must
assess what punishment they must suffer or what
compensation they must pay. But if anyone of the
cattle falls down and is killed, they must make good
to the owners the value of the animal as if it were
alive and keep the dead body for themselves.? Of the
same family as the above is the offence committed by
those who in building their houses leave their roofs
flat instead of ringing them in with parapets to pre-
vent anyone being precipitated unawares over the
edge. Indeed they are to the best of their ability

fluous. Cohn (Hermes, 1908, p. 206) also considers that the
Greek has faults of which Philo would not have been guilty.

> Philo passes over the case (v. 36) where the bull has not
been known to be vicious, when the two owners divide the
loss between them.

¢ For 88 147-148 see Ex. xxi. 33, 34, which, however,
legislates for cases where death is thus caused to an animal,
not toa man. See App. p. 638.

4 Deut. xxii. 8, where, though no penalty is prescribed, it
is implied that the omission will constitute bloodguiltiness
(Lxx ποιήσεις φόνον). See App. pp. 638-639.

569

147

148

149

150

151

152

PHILO

“᾿ Ἁ e \ 3 , , > 9 9 Ἁ
Kav μηδεὶς ὑποσυρεὶς ἀποθάνῃ, τό γε ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς
ἧκον μέρος. κολαζέσθωσαν οὖν ἐν ἴσῳ τοῖς ἀχανῆ

Ἁ 4 ζω
τὰ στόμια τῶν ὀρυγμάτων καταλείπουσι.

4

XXVIII. Avtpa παρὰ ἀνδροφόνου, ὃν δέον

θ Ul ὃ 4 e 4 Ἁ 9 aA A 4
τεθνάναι, διαγορεύει ὁ νόμος μὴ ἐξεῖναι λαμβάνειν
> A A Ω aA aA
ἐπὶ μειώσει τῆς τιμωρίας ἢ ὑπαλλαγῇ φυγῆς ἀντὶ

4 / ae aA “A
θανάτου: αἵματι yap αἷμα καθαίρεται, τῷ τοῦ
’ \ “A 9 lA > \ > 4
κτείναντος TO τοῦ ἐπιβουλευθέντος. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ὅρον

UY e “- A
οὐκ ἔχουσιν οἱ πονηροὶ τὰς φύσεις TOU πλημμελεῖν,
> > oo A aA 4 \ \
ἀλλ᾽ ἀεὶ μεγαλουργοῦσι προσυπερβάλλοντες καὶ τὰς
[4 9 4
κακίας ἐπιτείνουσι Kal διαίρουσι πρὸς TO ἄμετρον

ν 9 , @

Kal ἀπερίγραφον, μυρίους μὲν θανάτους, εἴπερ οἷόν
> @ \ “ ᾿
τε ἦν, ὥρισεν ἂν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ὁ νομοθέτης: ἐπεὶ

\ -ῳ 9 9
δὲ τοῦτ᾽ οὐκ ἐνεδέχετο, τιμωρίαν ἄλλην προσδια-

4 ’ 3
τάττεται κελεύων τοὺς ἀνελόντας ἀνασκολοπίζεσθαι.

\ “A > “-
καὶ τοῦτο προστάξας ἀνατρέχει πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν αὑτοῦ

’
φιλανθρωπίαν, ἡμερούμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἀνήμερα

9
εἰργασμένους, καί φησι: μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ὁ ἥλιος
> ~
ἀνεσκολοπισμένοις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπικρυπτέσθωσαν γῇ πρὸ

’ Ss A
δύσεως καθαιρεθέντες. ἦν yap ἀναγκαῖον τοὺς
A A
ἅπασι τοῖς μέρεσι TOU κόσμου πολεμίους μετ-
εωρίσαντας εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἐπιδείξασθαι μὲν αὐτοὺς

@ Num. xxxv. 31, 39. In the second of these verses, where
the E.V. has “γε shall take no ransom for him that is fled to
his city of refuge, that he should come again to dwell in
the land until the death of the priest,’ the txx has ov
λήψεσθε λύτρα τοῦ φυγεῖν εἰς πόλιν KTA., which might easily be
wrongly taken to mean “ye shall not accept a ransom so
that he shall fly.”’ Philo’s phrase in “ substitute banishment
for death’ suggests that he did take it so, meaning presum-
ably that the voluntary homicide might purchase a leave to
use the city of refuge.

570

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 149-152

murderers, even if no one is killed by the force of the
fall. They must receive the same penalty as those
who leave the mouths of their pits wide open.

XXVIII. “The law forbids the acceptance of 150
ransom-money from a murderer deserving of death,
in order to mitigate his punishment or substitute
banishment for death, for blood is purged with blood,?
the blood of the wilfully murdered with the blood
of the slayer. Since there are no bounds to the in- 151
iquities of evil natures, and they are ever committing
a superabundance of enormities and extending and
exalting their vices beyond all measure and all limit,
the lawgiver would, if he could, have sentenced them
to die times beyond number. But since this was im-
possible he ordained another penalty as an addition,
and ordered the manslayers to be crucified.© Yet 152
after giving this injunction he hastened to revert
to his natural humanity and shews mercy to those
whose deeds were merciless when he says “ Let not
the sun go down upon the crucified but let them be
buried in the earth before sundown.”’? For while it
was necessary that the enemies of every part of the
universe should after punishment be set on high and

ὑ Ibid. v. 33 “the land shall not be purged from the blood
shed upon it but by the blood of him that shed it.”

¢ Or simply ‘‘hanged up.” But in the other two places
where Philo uses the word, De Post. 61 and De Som. ii. 213,
it is definitely coupled with nailing, and he probably under-
stood the κρεμάσητε ἐπὶ ξύλου of the Lxx to mean “affix to
something wooden,” as also did Paul in Gal. iii. 18. Prob-
ably he understood that it is only the corpse of the malefactor

which is so affixed, though he does not make it absolutely
clear.

4 Deut. xxi. 22, 23. Philo treats the text very freely. It
does not enjoin the “‘hanging,’’ but merely that if it is done,
the body shall be buried the same day. Nor is it specified
that it is a punishment for murderers in particular.

571

PHILO

ἡλίῳ Kat οὐρανῷ καὶ ἀέρι. καὶ ὕδατι καὶ γῇ |

[325] κολασθέντας, πάλιν δὲ εἰς τὸν νεκρῶν χῶρον
ὑποσῦραί τε καὶ καταχῶσαι, ὅπως μὴ τὰ ὑπὲρ γῆν
μιαίνωσι.

158 ΧΧΙΧ. Παγκάλως μέντοι κἀκεῖνο διατέτακται,
πατέρας ὑπὲρ υἱῶν μὴ ἀποθνήσκειν μηδ᾽ υἱοὺς
ὑπὲρ γονέων, ἀλλ᾽ ἕκαστον τῶν ἄξια θανάτου
δεδρακότων αὐτὸν ἰδίᾳ μόνον ἀναιρεῖσθαι, διὰ τοὺς

βίαν τοῦ δικαίου προτιμῶντας ἢ πάνυ φιλο-

154 στόργους. οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ διὰ περιττὴν καὶ ὑπερ-
βάλλουσαν εὔνοιαν ἐθελήσουσι πολλάκις ἄσμενοι
προαποθνήσκειν, αὑτοὺς ἐπιδιδόντες ὑπὲρ τῶν
ἐνόχων οἱ ἀνυπαίτιοι, μέγα κέρδος νομίζοντες τὸ
μὴ ἐπιδεῖν κολαζομένους ἢ τοὺς γεννήσαντας υἱοὶ
ἢ τοὺς παῖδας γονεῖς, ὡς ἀβίωτον καὶ παντὸς
ἀργαλεώτερον θανάτου τὸν αὖθις χρόνον βιωσό-

155 μενοι. πρὸς ovs λεκτέον" “᾿ ἡ εὔνοια ὑμῶν οὐκ
ἔχει καιρόν, τὰ δ᾽ ὅσα μὴ ἐν καιρῷ ψέγεται
δεόντως, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ καίρια ἐπαινεῖται. χρὴ
μέντοι φιλεῖν τοὺς ἀξια φιλίας δρῶντας, πονηρὸς
δ᾽ οὐδεὶς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν φίλος. συγγενεῖς δὲ καὶ
ἐν συγγενέσι φίλους καλουμένους ἠλλοτρίωσαν αἱ
μοχθηρίαι πλημμελοῦντας" συγγένεια γὰρ οἰκειοτέρα
τῆς πρὸς αἵματος ἡ πρὸς ικαιοσύνην καὶ πᾶσαν
ἀρετὴν ὁμολογία, ἣν ἐκλιπών τις οὐκ ἐν ὀθνείοις
καὶ ξένοις μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἀσπόνδοις ἐχθροῖς

156 ἀναγράφεται. τί οὖν κατεψευσμένον ὄνομα εὐνοίας
ὅ τι χρηστὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπόν ἐστιν ὑποδύεσθε,
τἀληθῆ μαλακίαν καὶ ἀνανδρίαν παρακαλυπτόμενοι;
ἢ οὐκ ἄνανδροι τὰς φύσεις, παρ᾽ οἷς οἴκτου λο-

α Deut. xxiv. 16.
572

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 152-156

exhibited to the sun and heaven and air and water
and earth, it was equally necessary that they should
be thrust down into the place of the dead and there
entombed, that nothing above the earth might be
polluted by them.

XXIX. Another excellent ordinance is that fathers 153
should not die for their sons nor sons for their parents,
but each person who has committed deeds worthy of
death should suffer it alone and in his own person.@
This order has in view those who either set violence
before justice or are strongly influenced by family
affection. These last in their excessive and over- 154
whelming devotion will often be willing and glad to
sacrifice their guiltless selves for the guilty and die
in their stead. They count it a great gain to be
spared from seeing, parents their children and sons
their parents, undergoing a punishment which they
feel will make their after-life intolerable and more
painful than any death. To these we should answer 155
‘ your devotion is mistimed and the mistimed deserves
censure just as the rightly timed deserves praise. It
is right indeed to shew friendship to those whose
actions are worthy of friendship, but no evil-doer is
a true friend. Those whom we call our kinsfolk or
within the circle of kinsmen our friends are turned
into aliens by their misconduct when they go astray ;
for agreement to practise justice and every virtue
makes a closer kinship than that of blood, and he who
abandons this enters his name in the list not only of
strangers and foreigners but of mortal enemies. Why, 156
then, under the false name of devotion do you assume
to be all that is kind and humane and cloak the
realities, your weakness and unmanliness? For un-
manly is the nature you shew in letting compassion

573

PHILO

A e A Ἁ A> ὦ “- 50
γισμὸς ἡττᾶται; καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ἵνα διπλοῦν ἀδίκημα
δράσητε, τοὺς μὲν ὑπαιτίους ῥυόμενοι τῆς τιμωρίας,
αὑτοὺς δ᾽ ἐπὶ μηδενὲ μεμφθέντας τὸ παράπαν

3. “A 3 9.9 Ul 4 32
οἰόμενοι δεῖν ἀντ᾽ ἐκείνων κολάζειν;

157 XXX. ἀλλ᾽ οὗτοι μὲν ὑποτίμησιν ἔχουσι τὸ μηδὲν
“A Ἁ
θηρᾶσθαι ἐπ᾿ ὠφελείᾳ καὶ τὸ λίαν πρὸς τοὺς

9 ’ a A
ἐγγυτάτω γένους φιλόστοργον, ὑπὲρ ὧν τῆς

, “- \

158 σωτηρίας ἀποθνήσκειν ἄσμενοι διανοοῦνται. τοὺς

δὲ ὠμοθύμους καὶ τὴν φύσιν θηριώδεις τίς οὐκ

“A \ ~

av προβάλοιτο τῶν οὐ λέγω μετρίων ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν

A ,

μὴ σφόδρα ἀτιθάσων τὴν ψυχήν, ot 7 λάθρα τεχνά-
“- A 3 ,ὔ

ζουσιν 7 ἐπιθαρροῦσι φανερῶς ἑτέροις ἀνθ᾽ ἑτέρων

4 4 δ

τὰς μεγίστας ἐπανατείνεσθαι συμφοράς, φιλίαν ἢ

,ὔ ba! / > 9
συγγένειαν ἢ κοινωνίαν ἤ τι ὁμοιότροπον ἐπ
)λ 6 “- δὲ AS ‘4 φ ζό Ε
ὀλέθρῳ τῶν οὐδὲν ἠδικηκότων προφασιζόμενοι;
καὶ ταῦτα δρῶσιν ἔστιν ὅτε μηδὲν πεπονθότες

4 4 \ 4 nn Ce ~
δεινόν, ἕνεκα δὲ πλεονεξίας ἢ ἁρπαγῆς.

159 πρώην τις ἐκλογεὺς φόρων ταχθεὶς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν,
ἐπειδή τινες τῶν δοξάντων ὀφείλειν διὰ πενίαν
ἔφυγον δέει τιμωριῶν ἀνηκέστων, γύναια τούτων

[326] | καὶ τέκνα καὶ γονεῖς καὶ τὴν ἄλλην γενεὰν
ἀπαγαγὼν πρὸς βίαν, τύπτων καὶ προπηλακίζων
καὶ πάσας αἰκίας αἰκιζόμενος, tv’ ἢ τὸν φυγόντα
μηνύσωσιν 7 τὰ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου καταθῶσιν οὐδέτερον
δυνάμενοι, τὸ μὲν ὅτι ἠγνόουν, τὸ δ᾽ ὅτι οὐχ ἧττον
τοῦ φυγόντος ἀπόρως εἶχον, οὐ πρότερον ἀνῆκεν,

1 mss. μηδενὸς.

574

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 156-159

overcome your reason, only to commit a double
wrong in trying to deliver the guilty from chastise-
ment and in thinking it right that you should be
punished in their stead when no blame at all has
been cast upon you.” XXX. Still these 157
can plead in their defence that they seek no
profit and are moved by exceeding affection for
their nearest of kin, to save whom they propose
cheerfully to lay down their lives. But the other 158
kind, the cruel of heart and bestial of nature, would
be spurned, I need not say by all respectable people,
but by any who are not thoroughly uncivilized in soul.
I mean those who either secretly and craftily or boldly
and openly threaten to inflict the most grievous
sufferings on one set of persons in substitution for
another and seek the destruction of those who have
done no wrong on the pretext of their friendship or
kinship, or partnership, or some similar connexion,
with the culprits. And they sometimes do this with-
out having suffered any grievous harm but merely
through covetousness and rapine. An 159
example of this was given a little time ago in our own
district by a person who was appointed to serve as a
collector of taxes. When some of his debtors whose
default was clearly due to poverty took flight in fear
of the fatal consequences of his vengeance, he carried
off by force their womenfolk and children and parents
and their other relatives and beat and subjected them
to every kind of outrage and contumely in order ‘to
make them either tell him the whereabouts of the
fugitive or discharge his debt themselves. As they
could do neither the first for want of knowledge,
nor the second because they were as penniless as
the fugitive, he continued this treatment until while

575

PHILO

ἢ βασάνοις καὶ στρέβλαις τὰ σώματα κατατείνων
ἀποκτεῖναι κεκαινουργημέναις ἰδέαις θανάτου"
160 ἄμμου σπυρίδα πλήρη βρόχοις ἐκδησάμενος ἀνήρτα
κατὰ τῶν αὐχένων, βαρύτατον ἄχθος, ἱστὰς ἐν
ὑπαίθρῳ κατὰ μέσην ἀγοράν, ἵν᾽ οἱ μὲν ἀθρόαις
τιμωρίαις, ἀνέμῳ καὶ ἡλίῳ καὶ τῇ ἀπὸ τῶν παρ-
ἰόντων αἰσχύνῃ καὶ τοῖς ἐκκρεμαμένοις ἄχθεσι,
βιαζόμενοι χαλεπῶς ἀπαγορεύωσιν, οἱ δὲ θεώμενοι
161 τὰς τούτων τιμωρίας προαλγῶσιν: ὧν ἔνιοι τρανό-
τερον τῆς διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν διὰ τῆς ψυχῆς
λαβόντες αἴσθησιν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἑτέρων σώμασιν
αὐτοὶ κακούμενοι, τῷ βίῳ προαπετάξαντο ξίφεσιν
7 φαρμάκοις ἢ ἀγχόναις, μεγάλην ὡς ἐν κακο-
πραγίαις νομίζοντες ἐπιτυχίαν τὴν ἄνευ βασάνων
162 τελευτήν" οἱ δὲ μὴ φθάσαντες ἑαυτοὺς διαχρήσασθαι
καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς τῶν κλήρων ἐπιδικασίαις, κατὰ
στοῖχον ἤγοντο οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους πρῶτοι καὶ μετ᾽
αὐτοὺς δεύτεροι καὶ τρίτοι μέχρι τῶν ὑστάτων'
καὶ ὁπότε μηδεὶς λοιπὸς εἴη τῶν συγγενῶν,
διέβαινε τὸ κακὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς γειτνιῶντας, ἔστι
δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ ἐπὶ κώμας καὶ πόλεις, ai ταχέως ἔρημοι
καὶ κεναὶ τῶν οἰκητόρων ἐγένοντο μετανισταμένων
καὶ σκεδαννυμένων ἔνθα λήσεσθαι προσεδόκων.
163 ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν ἴσως θαυμαστόν, εἰ Popo-
λογίας ἕνεκα βάρβαροι τὰς φύσεις, ἡμέρου παιδείας
ἄγευστοι, δεσποτικοῖς πειθαρχοῦντες ἐπιτάγμασι
τοὺς ἐτησίους ἀναπράττουσι δασμούς, οὐ μόνον
ἐκ τῶν οὐσιῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν σωμάτων, ἄχρι
καὶ ψυχῆς τοὺς κινδύνους ἐπιφέροντες ὑπὲρ ἑτέρων

576

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 159-164

wringing their bodies with racks and instruments
of torture he finally dispatched them by newly-
invented methods of execution. He filled a large 160
basket with sand and having hung this enormous
weight by ropes round their necks set them in the
middle of the market-place in the open air, in order
that while they themselves sank under the cruel stress
of the accumulated punishments, the wind, the sun,
the shame of being seen by the passers-by and the
weights suspended on them, the spectators of their
punishments might suffer by anticipation. Some of 161
these, whose souls saw facts more vividly than did
their eyes, feeling themselves maltreated in the
bodies of others, hastened to take leave of their
lives with the aid of sword or poison or halter, think-
ing that in their evil plight it was a great piece of
luck to die without suffering torture. The others 162
who had not seized the opportunity to dispatch them-
selves were brought out in a row, as is done in the
awarding of inheritances, first those who stood in the
first degrees of kinship, after them the second, then
the third and so on till the last. And when there were
no kinsmen left, the maltreatment was passed on to
their neighbours and sometimes even to villages and
cities which quickly became desolate and stripped of
their inhabitants who left their homes and dispersed
to places where they expected to remain unobserved.
Yet perhaps it is not to be wondered at 163
if uncivilized persons who have never had a taste of
humane culture, when they have to collect the revenue
in obedience to imperious orders levy the annual
tributes not only on property but on bodies, and even
on the life when they bring their terrors to bear upon
these substitutes for the proper debtors. Indeed in 164

VOL. VII 2p 577

PHILO

e 7 ” A \ e A ᾽ὔ e : A
164 ετέροις. ἤδη δὲ καὶ ot τῶν δικαίων ὅροι καὶ
κανόνες, αὐτοὶ οἱ νομοθέται, πρὸς δόξαν μᾶλλον

ἢ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀπιδόντες, τῶν ἀδικωτάτων
ὑπέμειναν γενέσθαι, κελεύσαντες τοῖς μὲν προ-
δόταις τοὺς παῖδας συναναιρεῖσθαι, τοῖς δὲ τυράν-
165 νοις τὰς ἐγγυτάτω πέντε οἰκίας. διὰ τί; φαίην
ay: εἰ μὲν yap συνεξήμαρτον, καὶ συγκολαζέσθωσαν,

εἰ δὲ μήτε κατεκοινώνησαν “μήτε ζηλωταὶ τῶν
ὁμοίων ἐγένοντο μήτε ταῖς τῶν οἰκείων εὐτυχίαις
ἐπαρθέντες ἐνηδυπάθησαν, τίνος χάριν ἀναιρεθή-
σονται; ἣ δι᾿ ἕν τοῦτο μόνον, ὅτι συγγενεῖς εἰσι;
[327] γένους γὰρ 7 παρανομημάτων αἱ τιμωρίαι;
166 χρηστῶν ἴσως ὑμεῖς, ὦ σεμνοὶ νομοθέται, τῶν
οἰκείων ἐλάχετε:' “μοχθηροὶ δ᾽ εἴπερ ἐγένοντο,
δοκεῖτέ μοι μηδ᾽ ἂν εἰς νοῦν ποτε βαλέσθαι τὰς
τοιαύτας προστάξεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ γράφοντας ἑτέρους
δυσχερᾶναι, διὰ τὴν τοῦ μηδὲν ἀνήκεστον παθεῖν
προφυλακὴν Ἐκ αἱ TOV ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ βίῳ διάγοντα
μετὰ τῶν κινδυνευόντων σκοπεῖν καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἴσαις
κακοπραγίαις ἐξετάζεσθαι: τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει δέος,

Δ / / 9829 ON Ὁ ᾿ \ >

ὃ φυλαττόμενός τις οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἕτερον περιΐδοι, TO ὃ

1 The text here is very difficult I have not altered the

form printed by Cohn, who, as also Mangey, supposed a
lacuna after προφυλακὴν, but I doubt whether the error lies
here. Something like τὸν διάγοντα ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ βίῳ is required

as subject to παθεῖν, for the legislator is not supposed to be
guarding against his own ruin, but that of his relations. If
σκοπεῖν is omitted, or some other infinitive = ἁλῶναι dependent

on κινδυνευόντων substituted, and μὴ inserted before ἐξετάζε-
σθαι, the sentence, though very awkward, will be translatable.

In that case ἐξετάζεσθαι is co-ordinate with παθεῖν and the sense

as given in the translation. Heinemann, accepting the lacuna,
suggested filling it by δεινὸν yap, ἐ.6. “it would be terrible

to see the safe man in such a plight,” but this, I think, would
require ἐξεταζόμενον.

578

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 164-166

the past the legislators themselves, who are the
landmarks and standards of justice, have not shrunk
from acting as such® to the greatest injustice. With
an eye to men’s opinions rather then to truth
they have ordained that the fate of traitors and
tyrants should be shared by the children in the
first case and by the next five families in the second.?
Why, one might ask? If they were companions in 165
error let them also be companions in punishment,
but if they had no association with the others,
never followed the same objects, never let elation
at the success of their kinsmen tempt them to a
life of ease and pleasure, why should they be put
to death? Is their relationship the one sole
reason? Then is it birth or lawless actions which
deserve punishment ? Probably you, most reverend 166
lawgivers, had worthy people for relations. If they
had been bad, I do not think the idea of such enact-
ments would have entered your minds. Indeed you
would have been indignant if others had proposed
them, for you would have taken precautions that the
man who lives in safety should not suffer ruin with
those who run into danger, nor be set on a level with
them in misfortune.° Of the two situations? one
involves a danger which you would guard against and
not allow another to incur: the other has nothing te

α γῶν ἀδικωτάτων depends on ὅροι καὶ κανόνες understood.

’ Heinemann impossibly translates ‘‘die fiinf nachsten
Verwandten ihres Hauses.”” For the law see App. pp. 639-640.

¢ The translation is based, as stated in note 1, on the con-
jecture that σκοπεῖν is to be omitted. Though the idea of the
passage is fantastic, the general meaning seems clear, however
uncertain the details of the text.

4 T understand τὸ μέν “85 having bad,” τὸ δέ ‘“‘as having
good ’’ relations.

579

PHILO

ἐστὶν ἄφοβον, ὑφ᾽ οὗ πολλάκις ἀνεπείσθησάν τινες
ἀλογεῖν ἀνθρώπων ἀνυπαιτίων ἀσφαλείας.

16] Ταῦτ᾽ οὖν ἐκλογισάμενος ὁ ἡμέτερος νομοθέτης
καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἁμαρτήματα συνιδὼν ὡς
φθοροποιὰ τῆς ἀρίστης πολιτείας ἀπεστράφη καὶ
διεμίσησε [καὶ] τοὺς χρωμένους εἴτε ῥᾳθυμίαις
εἴτε ἀπανθρωπίαις καὶ κακίαις καὶ οὐδέποτέ τινα
τῶν συμβεβιωκότων ἐξέδωκεν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ προσ-
θήκην ποιησάμενος αὐτὸν ἀδικημάτων ἕτέρων.

168 διόπερ ἄντικρυς ἀπεῖπεν υἱοὺς ἀντὶ γονέων 7
γονεῖς ἀντὶ υἱῶν ἀναιρεῖσθαι, δικαιώσας ὧν τὰ
ἁμαρτήματα τούτων εἶναι καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας, εἴτε
ζημίας χρημάτων εἴτε καὶ πληγὰς καὶ βιαιοτέρας
ὕβρεις εἴτε τραύματα καὶ πηρώσεις καὶ «ἀτιμίας
καὶ φυγὰς καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τῶν ἐπὶ δίκαις" ἑνὸς γὰρ
τοῦ μὴ ἕτερον ἀνθ᾽ ἑτέρου κτείνειν μνησθεὶς καὶ
τὰ ἡσυχασθέντα προσπεριέλαβεν.

19 ΧΧΧΙ. ᾿᾿Αγοραὶ καὶ βουλευτήρια καὶ δικαστήρια
καὶ θίασοι καὶ σύλλογοι πολυανθρώπων ὁμίλων
καὶ o ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ βίος διὰ λώγων καὶ πράξεων
κατὰ πολέμους καὶ κατ᾽ εἰρήνην ἀνδράσιν ἐφ-
αρμόζουσι, θηλείαις δὲ οἰκουρία καὶ ἡ ἔνδον μονή,
παρθένοις μὲν εἴσω κλισιάδων τὴν μέσαυλον ὅ ὅρον
πεποιημέναις, τελείαις δὲ ἤδη γυναιξὶ τὴν αὔλειον.

1 ws. heading Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἀναισχυντεῖν γυναῖκας.

¢ At this point Philo, having hitherto discussed actions
which lead, or are intended to lead, to the Joss of human life,
turns to the question of assaults which do not neces sarily have,
nor are intended to have, that result. That these should be in-
cluded under his seventh commandment is perfectly rational,
and indeed he has stated this in De Dec. 170. They may

580

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 166-170

fear and a sense of security often persuades people to
neglect insuring the safety of the innocent.

So then our legislator took these things into con-
sideration and observing the errors current among
other nations regarded them with aversion as ruinous
to the ideal commonwealth ; persons whose conduct
shewed any kind of sloth or inhumanity or vice he
detested and would not ever surrender anyone whose
life had been passed in their company to be punished
with them and thus made an appendix to the crimes
of others. He therefore expressly forbade that sons
should be slain instead of fathers or fathers instead of
sons. Thereby also he gave it as his judgement that
persons who had sinned should be the persons who
were punished, whether the punishment consisted of
. monetary fines or stripes and injurious treatment of a
still more violent kind, or wounds and maiming and
disfranchisement and exile or any other kind of
sentence. For in the single statement that one man
should not be killed instead of another he included
also the cases which he left unmentioned.

XXXJ. * Market-places and council-halls and law-
courts and gatherings and meetings where a large
number of people are assembled, and open-air life
with full scope for discussion and action—all these are
suitable to men both in war and peace. The women
are best suited to the indoor life which never strays
from the house, within which the middle door is taken
by the maidens as their boundary, and the outer door
by those who have reached full womanhood. Organ-
involve other matters. Thus the law discussed in the next
twelve sections, though it gives rise to a disquisition on female
modesty, is primarily directed against an assault, just as the
‘‘eye for eye”’ of § 184 is preceded by the discussion of equal
punishment in §§ 181 f.

581

167

168

169

170

170

171

[828]
172

173

PHILO

διττὸν γὰρ πόλεων εἶδος, μειζόνων καὶ βραχυτέρων:
αἱ μὲν οὖν μείζους ἄστη “καλοῦνται, οἰκίαι δ᾽ αἱ

βραχύτεραι. τὴν δ᾽ ἑκατέρων προστασίαν διειλή-

χασιν ἄνδρες μὲν τῶν μειζόνων, ἧς ὄνομα πολιτεία,
γυναῖκες δὲ τῶν βραχυτέρων, ἣ ἧς ὄνομα οἰκονομία.
μηδὲν οὖν ἔξω τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν πολυ-
πραγμονείτω γυνὴ ζητοῦσα μοναυλίαν μηδ᾽ οἷα
νομὰς κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἐν ὄψεσιν ἀνδρῶν ἑτέρων
ἐξεταζέσθω, πλὴν εἰς ἱερὸν ὁπότε δέοι βαδίζειν,
φροντίδα ποιουμένη καὶ τότε μὴ πληθυούσης
ἀγορᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπανεληλυθότων οἴκαδε τῶν πλείστων,
ἐλευθέρας τρόπον καὶ τῷ ὄντι ἀστῆς ἐν ἠρεμίᾳ
θυσίας | ἐπιτελοῦσα καὶ εὐχὰς εἰς ἀποτροπὴν
κακῶν καὶ μετουσίαν ἀγαθῶν. τὸ δὲ λοιδορου-
μένων ἢ συμπλεκομένων ἀνδρῶν ἐπεκθεῖν τολμᾶν
κατὰ πρόφασιν συμμαχίας ἢ βοηθείας γυναῖκας
ἐπίληπτον καὶ οὐ μετρίως ἀναίσχυντον, ἃς οὐδ᾽
ἐν πολέμοις καὶ στρατείαις καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ πάσης
τῆς πατρίδος κινδύνοις ἐδικαίωσεν 6 νόμος ἐξ-
ετάζεσθαι, τὸ πρέπον ἰδών, ὅπερ ἀκίνητον ἀεὶ καὶ
πανταχοῦ φυλάττειν διενοήθη, νομίσας αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾽
εἶναι καθ᾽ αὑτὸ νίκης καὶ ἐλευθερίας καὶ πάσης
ἄμεινον εὐτυχίας. ἐὰν μέντοι καὶ πυθομένη τις
ὑβρίζεσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, πόθῳ τῷ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον
ἡττηθεῖσα φιλανδρίας, ὑπὸ τοῦ παραστάντος πάθους
ἐξορμῆσαι βιασθῇ, μὴ πλέον τῆς φύσεως ἀρρε-

α There was of course no Jewish temple in Alexandria.
Philo may mean the synagogue, but surely no sacrifice could
be offered there. It seems to me more probable that he is
giving advice to the female population in general and does not
feel any necessity to speak disrespectfully of their religious

observances. But see App. p. 640.
> Lit. “ἃ citizeness,”’ carrying with it something of the idea

582

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 170-173

ized communities are of two sorts, the greater which
we call cities and the smaller which we call house-
holds. Both of these have their governors; the
government of the greater is assigned to men under
the name of statesmanship, that of the lesser, known
as household management, to women. A woman, 17]
then, should not be a busybody, meddling with .
matters outside her household concerns, but should
seek a life of seclusion. She should not shew herself
off like a vagrant in the streets before the eyes of other
men, except when she has to go to the temple,® and
even then she should take pains to go, not when the
market is full, but when most people have gone home,
and so like a free-born lady® worthy of the name, with
everything quiet around her, make her oblations and
offer her prayers to avert the evil and gain the good.
The audacity of women who when men are exchang- 172
ing angry words or blows hasten to join in, under the
pretext of assisting their husbands in the fray, is
reprehensible and shameless in a high degree. And
so in wars and campaigns and emergencies which
threaten the whole country they are not allowed to
take their place according to the judgement of the
law, having in view the fitness of things, which it was
resolved to keep unshaken always and everywhere
and considered to be in itself more valuable than
victory or liberty or success of any kind. If indeed 173
a woman learning that her husband is being out-
raged is overcome by the wifely feeling inspired by
her love for him and forced by the stress of the
emotion to hasten to his assistance, she must not
unsex herself by a boldness beyond what nature

of ἀστεῖος. Cf. ἀσταί τε καὶ ἀστεῖαι, De Mig. 99, also De
Cong. 63. :

583

174

175

PHILO

4 θ θ ’ “ ὃ A \ 9 ἷ θ A
νούσθω θρασυνομένη, μενέτω δὲ καὶ ἐν ols βοηθεῖ
, ’ Ul 9 ὔ Ἢ e ,
γυνή" πάνδεινον yap, εἰ βουλομένη τις ὑπεξελέσθαι
A ” ᾿ “-“-ὠ
τὸν ἄνδρα ὕβρεως ὑβρισθήσεται πρὸς ἑαυτῆς
Ul > 4 A δ ’ 3 ’
κατάπλεων ἀποφαινούσης τὸν ἴδιον βίον αἰσχύνης

A Ul ~ ~
καὶ μεγάλων ὀνειδῶν τῶν ἐπ᾽ ἀνιάτῳ θρασύτητι.
λοιδορήσεται γὰρ γυνὴ κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν ῥῆμά τέ τι
“- >
τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων φθέγξεται, ἑτέρου δὲ κακ-
ηγοροῦντος οὐκ ἀποδραμεῖται τὰ ὦτα ἐπιφράξασα;
Ἁ A ; Α
νυνὶ δὲ προβαίνουσί τινες, ὡς μὴ μόνον ὑπὸ
γλωσσαλγίας ἐν ἀνδρῶν ὄχλῳ γυναῖκες, κακηγορεῖν
\ ἢ 2 9λλνλ , A A ) /
Kat προπηλακίζειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Tas χεῖρας ἐπιφέρειν
Ἁ e ’ A ’ > 3 9 aA .Y
τὰς ὑφάσμασι καὶ ταλασίαις ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πληγαῖς Kat
/ A ~ 3
ὕβρεσι καθάπερ παγκρατιαστῶν καὶ πυκτῶν ἐν-
ασκουμένας. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα [οἰστὰ
\ , ” , ; \ > 2 a.
καὶ] φέρειν av tis δύναιτο: χαλεπὸν δ᾽ ἐκεῖνο,
εἴ τις γυνὴ τοσοῦτον καταθρασύνοιτο, ὡς δια-
“A “A “A 4
δράξασθαι τῶν τοῦ διαφερομένου γεννητικῶν" μὴ
’ὔ “-Ἠ A A 4
yap, παρόσον ἀνδρὶ βοηθοῦσα δοκεῖ τοῦτο πράττειν,
> ’ “A 9 3 4 3 4
ἀφείσθω, τῆς δ᾽ ἄγαν θρασύτητος ἐπεχέσθω
’ ’ eyo €@ 2 A A 1 @ 3
τίνουσα δίκην, ὑφ᾽ ἧς αὐτὴ μὲν τὰ ὅμοια ἐξαμαρ-
’ 32 9 Oy 9 av 4 A > »
τάνειν ἐθέλουσα αὖθις οὐκ av δύναιτο, τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων
ὅσαι προπετέστεραι φόβῳ μετριάσουσιν: ἔστω δ᾽
e ’ A 3 A A ἐ 4 Φ 9 θ 4
ἡ δίκη χειρὸς ἀποκοπὴ τῆς ἁψαμένης ὧν οὐ θέμις.
1 Cohn brackets γυναῖκες, or would transfer it to after προ-
βαίνουσι. It seems to me in its antithetical position very
idiomatic. Mangey’s correction to γυναῖκας is, I think, inferior
Greek.

2 In the ss. καὶ προπηλακίζειν is placed after ἐπιφέρειν.

6 Deut. xxv. 11, 12. Philo appears at first sight to give
584

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 173-176

permits but limit herself to the ways in which a woman
can help. For it would be an awful catastrophe if
any woman in her wish to rescue her husband from
outrage should outrage herself by befouling her own
life with the disgrace and heavy reproaches which
boldness carried to an extreme entails. What, is a
woman to wrangle in the market-place and utter
some or other of the words which decency forbids ?
Should she not when she hears bad language stop her
ears andrun away? As itis, some of them go to such
a length that, not only do we hear amid a crowd of
men a woman's bitter tongue venting abuse and
contumelious words, but see her hands also used to.
assault—hands which were trained to weave and spin
and not to inflict blows and injuries like pancratiasts
and boxers. And while all else might be
tolerable, it is a shocking thing, if a woman is so lost
to a sense of modesty, as to catch hold of the genital
parts of her opponent.* The fact that she does so
with the evident intention of helping her husband
must not absolve her.® To restrain her over-boldness
she must pay a penalty which will incapacitate her-
self, if she wishes to repeat the offence, and frighten
the more reckless members of her sex into proper
behaviour. And the penalty shall be this—that the
hand shall be cut off which has touched what decency
forbids it to touch. The managers of gymnastic

approval to this law, and if he realizes that it is open to the
same objections as he made to a similar enactment in ii. 244,
he does not say so. Still one may perhaps see some hesita-
tion. The phrase ἔστω δ᾽ ἡ δίκη may not mean more than
that the law says so. In § 178 of the literal explanation he
merely says that is what is commonly given, not that it is
true, and his preference for the allegorical is not disguised.

. » So Deuteronomy, “‘ Thine eye shall have no pity.”

585

174

~~

75

176

PHILO

176 ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν Kal τοὺς τῶν γυμνικῶν ἀγώνων
ἀθλοθέτας, ot τῆς θέας ἀνεῖρξαν γυναῖκας, ἵνα μὴ
γυμνουμένοις ἀνδράσι παρατυγχάνουσαι τὸ δόκιμον
αἰδοῦς νόμισμα παρακόπτωσιν ἀλογοῦσαι φύσεως
θεσμῶν, οὗς ὥρισεν ἑκατέρῳ τμήματι τοῦ γένους
ἡμῶν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄνδρας, ἀποτιθεμένων ἐσθῆτας
γυναικῶν, ἐμπρεπὲς παρατυγχάνειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἑκατέρους
τὰς τῶν ἑτέρων ὄψεις ἐκτρέπεσθαι γυμνουμένων

177 τοῖς τῆς φύσεως βουλήμασιν ἑπομένους, εἶθ᾽ ὧν
ἡ ὄψις ἐπίληπτος, οὐ πολὺ μᾶλλον αἱ χεῖρες
ὑπαίτιοι; ὀφθαλμοὶ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἃ μὴ βουλόμεθα
πολλάκις ὁρᾶν ἀπελευθεριάζοντες ἀποβιάζονται,
χεῖρες δ᾽ ἐν τῇ τῶν ὑπηκόων τάξει τεταγμέναι |

[329] μερῶν πειθαρχοῦσαι τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐπιτάγμασιν
ὑπηρετοῦσιν.

1185 XXXII. Ἥδε μὲν αἰτία ἣ' παρὰ πολλοῖς εἴωθε,
λέγεσθαι: ἑτέραν δὲ ἤκουσα θεσπεσίων ἀνδρῶν τὰ
πλεῖστα τῶν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις ὑπολαμβανόντων εἶναι
σύμβολα φανερὰ ἀφανῶν καὶ ῥητὰ ἀρρήτων. ἦν

ὲ τοιάδε: ψυχῆς, ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς συγγενείαις, ἡ μέν
ἐστιν ἄρρην καὶ πρὸς ἀνδρῶν, ἡ δὲ θήλεια καὶ πρὸς
γυναικῶν: ἄρρην μὲν ἡ μόνῳ θεῷ προσκληροῦσα
ἑαυτὴν ὡς πατρὶ καὶ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων καὶ πάντων
αἰτίῳ, θήλεια δὲ ἡ ἐκκρεμαμένη τῶν ἐν γενέσει
καὶ φθορᾷ καὶ ἀποτείνουσα καθάπερ χεῖρα τὴν
δύναμιν αὑτῆς, ἵνα τυφλῶς τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων
ἐφάπτηται, γένεσιν δεξιουμένη τὴν τροπαῖς ἀμυ-
θήτοις χρωμένην καὶ μεταβολαῖς, δέον τὴν ἀμετά-

τον καὶ μακαρίαν καὶ τρισευδαίμονα θείαν
1 Perhaps omit 7 with one ms.

@ See App. p. 640.
> The text is allegorized in substantially the same way in

586

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 176-178

competitions also deserve praise for debarring women
from the spectacle,* in order that they may not be
present, when men are stripping themselves naked,
nor debase the sterling coin of modesty, by disre-
garding the statutes of nature which she has laid
down for each section of our race. For men too
cannot with propriety be present when women are
taking off their clothes. Each sex should turn away
from seeing the nakedness of the other and so comply
with what nature has willed. Surely, then, if it is
reprehensible for them to use their sight, their
hands are far more guilty. For the eyes often take
liberties and compel us to see what we do not wish
to see, but the hands are ranked among the parts
which we keep in subjection, and render obedient
service to our orders.

XXXII. This is the explanation commonly and
widely stated, but I have heard another from highly
gifted men who think that most of the contents of the
law-book are outward symbols of hidden truths,
expressing in words what has been left unsaid. This
explanation was as follows.2 There is in the soul a
male and female element just as there is in families,
the male corresponding to the men, the female to the
women. The male soul] assigns itself to God alone as
the Father and Maker of the Universe and the Cause
of all things. The female clings to all that is born and
perishes ; it stretches out its faculties like a hand
to catch blindly at what comes in its way, and gives
the clasp of friendship to the world of created things
with all its numberless changes and transmutations,
instead of to the divine order, the immutable, the

De Som. ii. 68, 69, though the point of the “female soul”
is not there brought out.

587

177

178

179

180

18]

182

PHILO

φύσιν. εἰκότως. οὖν τὴν ἐφαψαμένην χεῖρα τῶν
διδύμων ἀποκόπτειν διείρηται συμβολικῶς, οὐχ
ὅπως ἀκρωτηριάζηται τὸ σῶμα στερόμενον͵ ἀναγ-
καιοτάτου μέρους, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς πάντας
τοὺς ἀθέους ἐκτέμνειν λογισμοὺς ἐπι άθρᾳ χρω-
μένους ἅπασιν ὧν γένεσίς ἐστι" δίδυμοι γὰρ σύμ-
βολον σπορᾶς. καὶ γενέσεως. ἑπόμενος δ᾽ ἀκολουθίᾳ
φύσεως κἀκεῖνο λέξω, ὅτι μονὰς μέν ἐστιν εἰκὼν
αἰτίου πρώτου, δυὰς δὲ παθητῆς καὶ διαιρετῆς
ὕλης" ὃς ἂν οὖν δυάδα πρὸ μονάδος τιμήσῃ καὶ
δεξιώσηται, μὴ ἀγνοείτω «τὴν. ὕλην ἀποδεχόμενος
μᾶλλον 7) θεόν. ἧς χάριν αἰτίας ἐδικαίωσεν ὁ
νόμος ταύτην τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποκόπτειν
οἷα χεῖρα" μεῖζον γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀσέβημα ἢ τῷ
παθητῷ τὴν τοῦ δρῶντος ἀνατιθέναι δύναμιν.
ΧΧΧΠΙ. Μέμψαιτ᾽ dv τὶς δεόντως τοὺς ἀνόμοια
τοῖς ἀδικήμασι τάττοντας ἐπιτίμια κατὰ τῶν
εἰργασμένων, ζημίας χρημάτων ἐπ᾽ αἰκίαις ἢ ἐπὶ
τραύμασι καὶ πηρώσεσιν ἀτιμίας ἢ ἐπ᾽ ἀνδρο-
φονίαις ἑκουσίοις ἐλάσεις ὑπερορίους καὶ τὰς εἰς
ἀεὶ φυγὰς ἢ δεσμοὺς ἐπὶ κλοπαῖς" τὸ γὰρ ἀνώμαλον
καὶ ἄνισον ἐχθρὸν πολιτείας ζηλούσης τὴν ἀλήθειαν
ἰσότητος δὲ ὑφηγητὴς ὁ ἡμέτερος νόμος τὰ ὅμοια
κελεύων τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ὑπομένειν οἷς ἔδρασαν,
ἐκ τῶν οὐσιῶν, ἐὰν περὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἀδικοπραγῶσι
τῶν πλησίον, ἐκ τῶν σωμάτων, ἐὰν εἰς τὰ σώματα

2 As noted on De Som. ii, δίδυμοι is the Lxx translation of
the word translated “ secrets”’ in E.V.

> Heinemann “ in natiirlichem ‘Zusammenhang.” I hardly
think φύσεως can bear this meaning. I understand it of the
higher truths of nature, which the allegorist (ὁ φυσικός) con-
templates. See note on De Abr. 99, and the references there
given. ἐς

588

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 179-182

blessed, the thrice happy. Naturally therefore we 179
are commanded in a symbol to cut off the hand which
has taken hold of the “ pair,”’ * not meaning that the
body should be mutilated by the loss of a most
essential member, but to bid us exscind from the soul
the godless thoughts which take for their basis all
that comes into being through birth ; for the “ pair ”’
are a symbol of seed-sowing and birth. I will add 180
another thought, following where the study of nature
leads me.? The monad is the image of the first cause,
the dyad of matter passive and divisible. Therefore
one who honours the dyad before the monad should
not fail to know that he holds matter in higher esteem
than God. It is for this reason that the law judged

it right to cut off this tendency of the soul as if it
were a hand, for there is no greater impiety than to
ascribe to the passive element the poner of the active
principle.

XXXIII. The legislators deserve censure who 181
prescribe . for malefactors punishments which do
not resemble the crime, such as monetary fines for
assaults, disfranchisement for wounding or maiming
another, expulsion from the country and perpetual
banishment for wilful murder or imprisonment for
theft.° For inequality and unevenness is repugnant
to the commonwealth which pursues truth. Our 182
law exhorts us to equality ὦ when it ordains that the
penalties inflicted on offenders should correspond
to. their actions, that their property should suffer
if the wrongdoing affected their neighbour’s property,
and their bodies if the offence was a bodily injury,

ὁ See App. p. 640.
ὦ For the ius talionis see Ex. xxi. 24, Lev. xxiv. 19-21,
Deut. xix. 21, and cf. Matthew v. 38.

589

PHILO

4
ἐξαμαρτάνωσι κατὰ μέρη καὶ μέλη Kal Tas
9 ᾽ nv 3) ,ὔ A “a 3
[380] αἰσθήσεις: κἂν ἄχρι | μέντοι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιβου-
λεύσωσιν, εἰς ψυχὴν τιμωρεῖσθαι κελεύει: ὑπο-
μένειν γὰρ ἀνθ᾽ ἑτέρων ἕτερα μηδεμίαν ἔχοντα
κοινωνίαν ἀλλὰ τοῖς εἴδεσιν ἀπηρτημένα κατα-
4 4 > ’ὔ 3 4 \
183 λυόντων νόμους ἐστιν, οὐ βεβαιούντων. ταῦτι
4 A ” 9 e ᾽ὔ 9 4 b ]
δέ φαμεν τῶν ἄλλων [οὐχ] ὁμοίως ἐχόντων: od
γὰρ ταὐτὸν ἀλλοτρίῳ καὶ πατρὶ πληγὰς ἐμφορῆσαι
οὐδὲ ἄρχοντα ἢ ἰδιώτην κακῶς εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ ἐργά-
, A \ 9 ’ὔ 9 VA “τ 64 “.
σασθαί τι τῶν μὴ ἐφειμένων ἐν βεβήλοις ἢ ἱεροῖς
e aA
χωρίοις οὐδ᾽ ἐν ἑορταῖς καὶ πανηγύρεσι Kal δημο-
τελέσι θυσίαις καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἡμέραις αἷς μηδὲν
πρόσεστι τῶν εἰς ἐκεχειρίαν ἣ καὶ συνόλως ἀπο-
φράσι, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιουτότροπα διερευνητέον
’ὔ ,
εἰς συναύξησιν ἢ μείωσιν κολάσεως.
UU “A
184 Πάλιν ἐάν τις, φησίν, ὀφθαλμὸν οἰκέτου ἢ
’ > 4 9 ’ὔ 9 ’ὔ \ ’ὔ
θεραπαίνης ἐκκόψῃ, ἐλευθέρους ἀφιέτω. διὰ τί;
ὥσπερ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἡγεμονίαν ἡ φύσις ἀνῆψε
κεφαλῇ χαρισαμένη καὶ τόπον οἰκειότατον ὡς
βασιλεῖ τὴν ἄκραν--ἄνω γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν
4 ὃ 4 θ 4 > ὃ Ul /

παραπέμψασα ἱδρύσατο καθάπερ ἀνὸδριάντι βάσιν

a > 9 A
ὑποθεῖσα τὴν am αὐχένος ἄχρι ποδῶν ἅπασαν
ἁρμονίαν---, οὕτως καὶ τῶν αἰσθήσεων τὸ κράτος
ἀνέδωκεν ὀφθαλμοῖς: ὑπεράνω γοῦν καὶ τούτοις
ὡς ἄρχουσιν ἀπένειμεν οἴκησιν, βουληθεῖσα μὴ

4 The translation assumes that the subject of ὑπομένειν is to
be understood out of καταλυόντων κτλ. But perhaps in view
of the ὑπομένειν above it may be better, though looser, to
take it “‘ that a man should suffer.”

590

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 182-184

the penalty being determined according to the limb,
part or sense affected, while if his malice extended to
taking another’s life his own life should be the forfeit.
For to tolerate a system ? in which the crime and the
punishment do not correspond, have no common
ground and belong to different categories, is to sub-
vert rather than uphold legality. In saying this I 183
assume that the other conditions are the same, for
to strike a stranger is not the same as to strike a
father nor the abuse of a ruler the same as abuse of
an ordinary citizen. Unlawful actions differ accord-
ing as they are committed in a profane or sacred place,
or at festivals and solemn assemblies and public
sacrifices as contrasted with days which have no
holiday associations or are even quite inauspicious.’
And all other similar facts must be carefully con-
sidered with a view to making the punishment
greater or less.

Again he says that if anyone knocks out the eye of 184
a manservant or maidservant he must set him or her
at liberty.©. Why is this? Just as nature conferred
the sovereignty of the body on the head when she
granted it also possession of the citadel as the most
suitable position for its kingly rank, conducted it
thither to take command and established it on high
with the whole framework from neck to foot set
below it, like the pedestal under the statue, so too
she has given the lordship of the senses to the eyes.
Thus to them too as rulers she has assigned a dwell-
ing right above the others in her wish to give them

> 4.e. (apparently) for religious observances. This seems
somewhat different from the usual meaning of the phrase
which signifies days on which secular business was forbidden

=‘‘ dies nefasti.”” See App. p. 641.
¢ Ex. xxi. 26.

591

185

186

187

188

[331]

ΟΡΗΠΟ

4 A > A A ’ ,
μόνον τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀλλὰ Kal χωρίῳ περισημοτάτῳ
καὶ περιφανεστάτῳ τούτους γερᾶραι.

Δ

XXXIV. τὰς μὲν οὖν χρείας καὶ ὠφελείας, ἃς
“- “A : A

παρέχουσι τῷ γένει ἡμῶν ὀφθαλμοί, μακρὸν av
εἴη καταριθμεῖσθαι" μίαν δὲ τὴν ἀρίστην λέκτέον.
’ 3) A ἐς 9 4 3 4 : A e€
φιλοσοφίαν ὥμβρησε μὲν ὁ οὐρανός, ἐχώρησε δὲ ὃ
ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς, ἐξενάγησε δὲ ὄψις" πρώτη γὰρ

¢ A A , 2 9 27 1 ¢ ,
αὕτη κατεῖδε τὰς λεωφόρους ἐπ᾽ αἰθέρος. ὁδούς.
> A ho o@ ἢ 2\ 7 > ,. \
ἀγαθῶν δέ, doa πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀγαθά, πηγὴ
φιλοσοφία: ἧς ὁ μὲν ἀρυτόμενος εἰς κτῆσιν καὶ
χρῆσιν ἀρετῆς ἐπαινετός, 6 δ᾽ ἕνεκα πανουργίας
καὶ τοῦ κατασοφίσασθαί" τινα ψεκτός: ἔοικε γὰρ

A “- d ᾿

ὁ μὲν ἀνδρὶ συμποτικῷ καὶ ἑαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς
συνεστιωμένους πάντας εὐφραίνοντι, 6 δὲ τῷ τὸν
” 4 \ @ “- A ~
ἄκρατον εἰς παροινίαν Kal ὕβριν ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν

ἢ 9 , ¢ Qo κα 8 ,
πλησίον ἐμφορουμένῳ. ὅτῳ δ᾽ οὖν" τρόπῳ φιλο-
; ;

σοφίαν ἐξενάγησεν ὄψις, ἤδη λεκτέον. ἀναβλέψασα
εἰς αἰθέρα κατεῖδεν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ πλάνητας
a “A e ᾿ “-

καὶ ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας, τὴν ἱεροπρεπεστάτην οὐρανοῦ
στρατιάν, κόσμον ἐν κόσμῳ, εἶτ᾽ ἀνατολὰς καὶ
δύσεις καὶ χορείας ἐμμελεῖς καὶ τεταγμέναις

4 4 4 3 ’ > 4
χρόνων περιόδοις συνόδους, ἐκλείψεις, ἐπιλάμψεις,

4
εἶτ᾽ αὐξήσεις καὶ μειώσεις σελήνης, ἡλίου κινήσεις
τὰς κατὰ πλάτος, ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν νοτίων ἐπὶ τὰ
βόρεια προσιόντος, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν βορείων ἐξανα-
χωροῦντος | πρὸς τὰ νότια, εἰς καιρῶν τῶν ἐτησίων
1 ss. ἀπ᾽ αἰθέρος. 2 vss. καταψηφίσασθαι.

3 Mss. γοῦν.

¢ See App. p. 641.
592

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 184-188

amongst other privileges the most conspicuous and

distinguished situation.” XXXIV. Now as 185

for the services and benefits which the eyes render
to the human race, it would take a long time to
enumerate them, but one, the best, must be men-
tioned. Philosophy was showered down by heaven
and received by the human mind, but the guide
which brought the two together was sight, for sight
was the first to discern the high roads which lead
to the upper air.2’. Now philosophy is the fountain
of good things, all that are truly good, and he who
draws from that spring deserves praise, if he does so
for the acquisition and practice of virtue, but blame,
if it is for knavish ends and to outwit another with
sophistry. For in the first case he resembles the
convivial man who makes himself and all his fellow-
guests merry, in the second the drinker who swills
himself with strong wine, only to play the sot and
insult himself and his neighbours. Now let us
describe the way in which sight acted as guide to
philosophy ; sight looked up to the ethereal region
and beheld the sun and moon and the fixed and
wandering stars, the host of heaven in all its sacred
majesty, a world within a world; then their risings
and settings, their ordered rhythmic marchings, their
conjunctions as the appointed times recur, their
eclipses, their reappearances ; then the waxing and
waning of the moon, the courses of the sun from side
to side® as it passes from the south to the north and
returns from the north to the south, thus producing

> For this often repeated thought, originally, as has been
_ noted before, derived from Timaeus 47 a, cf. i. 339 above,
De Abr. 164 and De Op. 54 f. and notes.

¢ Lit. ‘“‘along a broad space” (?), Heinemann “ aus-
gedehnten,”’ Mangey “ transversos (motus).””

VOL. VII 2Q 593

186

187

188

189

100

19]

PHILO

@ / ; A \ A
γένεσιν, ols’ τὰ πάντα τελεσφορεῖται, καὶ πρὸς
᾽;
τούτοις μυρία ἄλλα θαυμάσια" καὶ περιαθρήσασα
“~ 4 4 4
κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν καὶ ἀέρα τάδε
4 A A A 4 e 9
πάντα τῷ νῷ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπεδείξατο. ὃ ὃ
74 9 er 9 5" 9 ς A A A ~
ἅπερ οὐχ olds τ᾽ ἦν du’ αὑτοῦ καταλαβεῖν διὰ τῆς
€ 4 ~ Q ,
ὁράσεως ἰδὼν οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ὁραθέντων αὐτὸ μόνον
fh > 9 / A > ,
ἔστη, ἀλλ᾽ ἅτε φιλομαθὴς καὶ φιλόκαλος, ἀγάμενος
Ἁ lA ~
τὴν θέαν, λογισμὸν εἰκότα ἐλάμβανεν, ὅτι ταῦτα
A ’ὔ
οὐκ ἀπαυτοματισθέντα συνέστη φοραῖς ἀλόγοις,
> \ 4 ~ a 4 A Ἁ 9 /
ἀλλὰ διανοίᾳ θεοῦ, ὃν πατέρα Kal ποιητὴν ὀνομάζειν
4 A are 9 37 93 ᾽ὔ AY
θέμις, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἄπειρα, πεπέρασται δὲ
e oN ’ὔ nw : , n~ ΄-
ἑνὸς κόσμου περιγραφῇ, πόλεως τρόπον τῇ τῶν
9 ~ 3 7 , , ‘
ἀπλανῶν ἐξωτάτω σφαίρᾳ περιλαμβανόμενα, Kal
᾽ὔ Ἁ 9 A
ὡς ὃ γεννήσας πατὴρ νόμῳ φύσεως ἐπιμελεῖται
“A 4 7 4 ~ e A
τοῦ γενομένου, προνοούμενος Kal τοῦ ὅλου Kal
΄- ~ 4 4 ° ~
τῶν μερῶν. εἶτα προσεπεσκέψατο, Tis οὐσία τοῦ
e “- A e A “- A 4 ‘
ὁρατοῦ καὶ εἰ πάντων ἡ αὐτὴ τῶν κατὰ TOV κόσμον
9 e A
ἢ ἑτέρων ἑτέρα Kal Ex τίνων ἕκαστα ἐτελέσθη, καὶ
Ά > 7 3 > A 4 e
Tas αἰτίας Ou ἃς ἐγένετο καὶ δυνάμεις ais συν-
\ a A ς ε
ἔχεται καὶ πότερον αὗται σώματα ἢ ἀσώματοι. ἢ
γὰρ περὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων ἔρευνα
4 | 3) “4. 4 , 4 Ἁ
τί ἂν ἄλλο ἢ φιλοσοφία προσαγορεύοιτο; τί δὲ
~ ~ “- Va 4
τῷ σκοπουμένῳ ταῦτα θεῖτο ἂν τις οἰκειότερον
Ul Vv , A ~ “
ὄνομα ἢ φιλόσοφον; τὸ γὰρ περὶ θεοῦ σκοπεῖν
A A “- “-- A
Kal κόσμου Kal τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ κοινῶς ζῴων τε Kal
φυτῶν καὶ περὶ νοητῶν παραδειγμάτων καὶ πάλιν
9 ~ > . , A ~ 9 7
αἰσθητῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων καὶ τῆς καθ᾽ ἕκαστον
τῶν γεγονότων ἀρετῆς τε καὶ κακίας φιλομαθῆ

1 MSS. wes.

594

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 188-191

the yearly seasons by which all things are brought
to their consummation. Numberless other marvels
did it behold, and after it had gazed around over
earth and sea and the lower air, it made speed to
shew all these things to the mind. The mind, having 189
discerned through the faculty of sight what of itself
it was not able to apprehend, did not simply stop short
at what it saw, but, drawn by its love of knowledge
and beauty and charmed by the marvellous spectacle,
came to the reasonable conclusion that all these were
not brought together automatically by unreasoning
forces, but by the mind of God Who is rightly called
their Father and Maker; also that they are not
unlimited but are bounded by the ambit of a single
universe, walled in like a city by the outermost sphere
of the fixed stars; also that the Father Who begat
them according to the law of nature takes thought
for His offspring, His providence watching over both
the whole and the parts. Then it went on to inquire 190
what is the substance of the world which we see and
whether its constituents are all the same in substance
or do some differ from others ; what are the elements
of which each particular part is composed, what are
the causes which brought them into being, and what
are the forces or properties which hold them together
and are these forces corporeal or incorporeal. We 191
may well ask what title we can give to research into
these matters but philosophy and what more fitting
name than philosopher to their investigator. Tor to
make a study of God and the Universe embracing all
that is therein, both animals and plants, and of the
conceptual archetypes and also the works which they
produce for sense to perceive, and of the good and
evil qualities in every created thing—shews a dis-

595

PHILO

καὶ φιλοθεάμονα καὶ τῷ ὄντι φιλόσοφον διάθεσιν

192 ἐμφαίνει. μέγιστον μὲν δὴ τοῦτο τῷ
βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀγαθὸν ὄψις παρέχεται" δοκεῖ
δέ μοι ταύτης ἠξιῶσθαι τῆς προνομίας, ἐπειδὴ
τῶν ἄλλων αἰσθήσεων συγγενεστέρα ψυχῇ καθ-
ἔστηκεν" ἅπασαι μὲν “γὰρ τὴν πρὸς διάνοιαν
ἔχουσιν οἰκειότητα, αὕτη δὲ καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς
οἰκίαις τὴν ἐγγυτάτω γένους πρώτην καὶ ἀνωτάτω

193 τάξιν εἴληχε. τεκμηριώσαιτο δ᾽ ἄν τις ἐκ πολλῶν'
τίς γὰρ οὐκ oldev, ὅτι χαιρόντων μὲν ὀφθαλμοὶ
γανοῦνται καὶ μειδιῶσι, λυπουμένων δὲ συννοίας
γέμουσι καὶ κατηφείας; εἰ δὲ πλεονάζοι καὶ πιέζοι
καὶ ἀναθλίβοι τὸ ἄχθος, ἐκδακρύουσι καὶ κρα-
τούσης. μὲν ὀργῆς οἰδοῦσι καὶ ὕφαιμον καὶ
πυρωπὸν ἐμβλέπουσιν, ἵλεων δὲ καὶ εὐμενές, εἰ

194 χαλάσαι ὁ θυμός. καὶ ἐν μὲν τῷ λογίζεσθαι
καὶ σκοπεῖν al κόραι πεπήγασι τρόπον τινὰ συν-
εννοοῦσαι, τῶν δὲ εὐηθεστέρων ὑπ᾽ ἠλιθιότητος

[382] πλάζεται καὶ ἡ ὅρασις οὐκ ἠρεμοῦσα" | καὶ συνόλως
τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς πάθεσι συμπάσχουσιν ὀφθαλμοὶ
καὶ ταῖς ἀμυθήτοις τροπαῖς συμμετα dAAew πε-
φύκασι διὰ τὴν οἰκειότητα" δοκεῖ γάρ μοι μηδὲν
οὕτως ὁ θεὸς ἐμφανὲς ἀφανοῦς ἀπεργάσασθαι
μίμημα ws ὄψιν λογισμοῦ.

195 XXXV. ᾿'Βάν τις οὖν εἰς τὴν ἀρίστην καὶ ἡγε-
μονικωτάτην τῶν αἰσθήσεων ὅρασιν ἧ ἐπιβεβου-
λευκώς τῳ καὶ καταφανῇ μὲν ἐλευθέρου ὀφθαλμὸν
ἐκκόψας, τὰ αὐτὰ ἀντιπασχέτω, δούλου δὲ μή:
οὐχ ὅτι συγγνώμης ἐστὶν ἄξιος ἢ ἔλαττον ἀδικεῖ,

@ ὦ, ὁ. “to the mind,” regarded as the head of the family.

> Cf. De Abr. 151 f.
¢ Philo reads Ex. xxi. 26 as limiting the previous verse,

596

THE SPECIAL LAWS, ΠῚ. 191-195

position which loves to learn, loves to contemplate
and is truly wisdom-loving or philosophical.

This is the greatest boon which sight bestowed on
human life, and I think that this pre-eminence has
been awarded to it because it is more closely akin to
the soul than the other senses. They are all of the
same family as the mind, but, just as it is with
families, the place which is closest in birth ὁ and first
and highest, is held by sight. We may find many
proofs of this, for who does not know that when we
rejoice the eyes are bright and smiling, when we
are sad they are full of anxiety and dejection, and,
if the burden is magnified and presses and crushes,
they break out into tears ; when anger prevails they
swell and their look is bloodshot and fiery ; when the
temper dies down it is gentle and kindly ; when we
are reflecting or inquiring the pupils are set and seem
to share our thoughts, while in persons of little sense
their silliness makes their vision roaming and restless.
In general the emotions of the soul are shared by
the eyes, and as it passes through its numberless
phases they change with it, a natural consequence of
their affinity.’ Indeed it seems to me that nowhere
else in God’s creations is the inward and invisible so
well represented by the outward and visible as reason

is by sight.

192

193

194

XXXV. If, then, anyone has maliciously injured 195

another in the best and lordliest of his senses, sight,
and is proved to have struck out his eye, he must in
his turn suffer the same, if the other is a free man,°
but not if he is a slave. Not that the offender
deserves pardon or is less in the wrong, but because

*‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth . . . but (δέ) if he strikes out
the eye of a slave,” etc. .

597

196

197

198

PHILO

ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι πονηροτέρῳ χρήσαιτ᾽ av ὃ πεπονθὼς
ἀντιπηρωθέντι τῷ δεσπότῃ, μνησικακήσοντι' τῆς
συμφορᾶς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον καὶ ἀμυνουμένῳ καθ᾽
ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὡς ἐχθρὸν ἄσπονδον ἀφορήτοις
καὶ βαρυτέροις τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπιτάγμασιν, οἷς
πιεζόμενος καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπορρήξει. προὐνόησεν
οὖν ὁ νόμος τοῦ μήτε τὸν ἐπιβεβουλευκότα ἀθῷον
ἀφεθῆναι μήτε τὸν πεπηρωμένον προσαδικηθῆναι
κελεύσας, εἴ τις ἐκκόψειε θεράποντος ὀφθαλμόν,
ἀνενδοιάστως ἐλευθερίας μεταδιδόναι." οὕτως γὰρ
ὁ μὲν ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἔδρασε διττὴν ἐνδέξεται ζημίαν,
ἅμα τῇ τιμῇ καὶ τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ἀφαιρεθείς, καὶ
τρίτον ἑκατέρου τῶν λεχθέντων χαλεπώτερον,
ἀναγκαζόμενος ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις εὐεργετεῖν ἐχθρόν,
ὃν ἴσως ηὔχετο κακοῦν ἀεὶ δύνασθαι, ὁ δὲ ἀνθ᾽ ὧν
ὑπέμεινε παρηγορίαν ἕξει διπλῆν, οὐ μόνον ἐλευ-
θερωθεὶς ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀργαλέον καὶ ὠμὸν δεσπότην
ἐκφυγών.

XXXVI. Προστάττει δὲ κἂν εἴ τις ὀδόντα
θεράποντος ἐκκόψειεν, ἐλευθερίαν χαρίζεσθαι τῷ
θεράποντι. διὰ τί; ὅτι ζωὴ μὲν τίμιον, ὄργανα
δὲ ζωῆς ἐτεκτήνατο ἡ φύσις ὀδόντας, οἷς τὴν
τροφὴν οἰκονομεῖσθαι συμβέβηκεν. ὀδόντες δὲ ot
μέν εἰσι τομίαι τῷ τέμνειν σιτία καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα
ἐδώδιμα, διὰ τοῦτο ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας

1 Mss. μνησικακήσαντι. 2 mss. μεταδιδότω Or μεταδιδῶ.

3 mss. ἐνδείξεται ΟΥ̓ ἐνδέχεται et alia.
Η ἐ The construction is somewhat difficult, as εἰσι τῷ τέμνειν
‘are for the purpose of cutting ”’ is hardly Greek. Heine-
mann and Cohn (doubtfully) suggest omitting διὰ τοῦτο with
F. In this case it would be almost necessary to omit ταύτης
also. If the text is kept, perhaps understand τροφὴν oiko-
νομοῦντες from the sentence before.

598

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 195-198

if the master is mutilated as a punishment the
injured slave will find him worse than before. He
will harbour a perpetual grudge for his misfortune
and avenge himself on one whom he regards as
a mortal enemy by setting him every day to tasks
of an intolerable kind and beyond his powers ‘to
cope with, the oppressive weight of which will
break his spirit also. The law, therefore, provided 196
on the one hand that a master should not go un-
punished for his malicious assault and on the other
that the servant should not suffer further wrong in
addition to the loss of his eye. It effected this by
enacting that if anyone struck out his servant’s eye
he should without hesitation grant him his liberty, for 197
in this way the master will incur a double penalty ;
he will lose the value of the slave as well as his
services, and a third affliction more severe than either
of these two is that he will be forced to confer a
benefit that touches his highest interest on an enemy
whom he probably hoped to be able to maltreat in-
definitely. The servant will receive a double solatium
for his suffering ; he is not only set at liberty but has
escaped from a harsh and cruel master.

XXXVI. A further command is that if anyone 198
strikes out a servant’s tooth he must grant him his
liberty. Why is this? Because life is precious and
the means contrived by nature for the preservation
of life are teeth by which the food is subjected to the
processes necessary for dealing with it. Now the
teeth are divided into the cutters and the grinders ;
the former do their part by cutting or biting the
bread-stuffs and all other comestibles, whence their
appropriate name of cutters, the latter by their

@ Ex. xxi. 27.
599

PHILO

ἀξιωθέντες, ot δὲ μύλαι TH τὰ διατμηθέντα εἰς

/ 9. ἃ 9. »
199 μείονα λεαίνειν δύνασθαι. παρ᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν

200

201
[333]

202

6 ποιητὴς καὶ πατὴρ οὐδὲν εἰωθὼς δημιουργεῖν,
ὃ μὴ πρός τινι τέτακται χρείᾳ, τοὺς ὀδόντας οὐχ
ὥσπερ τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν ἕκαστον κατὰ τὴν πρώτην
γένεσιν εὐθὺς εἰργάζετο, διανοηθεὶς ὅτι βρέφει μὲν
γαλακτοτροφεῖσθαι μέλλοντι περιττὸν ἄχθος γενή-
σονται, μαστοῖς δὲ πηγάζουσιν, οἷς ἄρδεται ἡ
τροφή, χαλεπὴ ζημία κατὰ τὴν ὁλκὴν τοῦ γάλακτος
ὀδαξωμένοις. τὸν ἐπιτήδειον οὖν καιρὸν προ-
ἱδόμενος---ἔστι δ᾽ οὗτος, ἡνίκα τὸ βρέφος ἀπότιτθον
γίνεται---τὴν ἔκφυσιν τῶν ὀδόντων, ἣν ἐταμιεύ-
σατο πρότερον, ἀνέφηνεν * * *' ἤδη τῆς τε-
λειοτέρας ἀνέχεσθαι. τροφῆς ὀργάνων ὧν εἶπον
δεομένης τὴν διὰ τοῦ γάλακτος ἀποστρεφόμενον.
"Kav οὖν τις εἴξας ἀλαζονείᾳ | θεράποντος ὀδόντα
ἐκκόψῃ τὸν ὑπηρέτην καὶ ὑποδιάκονον τῶν ἀναγ-
καιοτάτων, τροφῆς τε καὶ ζωῆς, ἐλευθερούτω τὸν
ἀδικηθέντα, στερόμενος καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς ἐκ τοῦ
πεπονθότος λατρείας τε καὶ ὑπηρεσίας. ἰσότιμον
οὖν, φήσει" τις, ὀδοὺς ὀφθαλμῷ; πρὸς ἃ γέγονεν
ἑκάτερον, εἴποιμ᾽ ἄν, ἰσότιμον, πρὸς μὲν τὰ ὁρατὰ
ὀφθαλμός, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐδώδιμα ὀδούς. εἰ δὲ καὶ
συγκρῖναί τις ἐθελήσει, σεμνότατον μὲν εὑρήσει
τῶν ἐν σώματι μερῶν ὀφθαλμὸν ἅτε θεωρὸν ὄντα
τοῦ σεμνοτάτου τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον, οὐρανοῦ,
χρήσιμον δὲ ὀδόντα ὡς ἂν τροφῆς, τοῦ χρησιμω-

* Something is wanted to complete the construction. Cohn

inserts ὅτε δύναται. I suggest ἐνὸν (impersonal participle) as
more easily lost after ἀπέφηνεν.
2 Mss. φησί. ?

600

THE SPECIAL LAWS, IIT. 198-202

capacity for reducing the bitten pieces into smaller
particles. This is the reason why the 199
Maker and Father, Whose way is to frame nothing
that does not serve some purpose, did not make
the teeth straight away at birth like each of the
other parts. He bore in mind that they would
be a superfluous burden to the infant who would

be fed on milk, and would also bring serious
trouble to the breasts, the fountain through
which the liquid sustenance flows, as they would
be galled during the suction of the milk. He 200
looked forward, therefore, to the proper time, that

is, to when the infant is weaned from the breast,
and brought out that supplementary growth of
teeth, which He hitherto kept in storage, only
when the infant would refuse to take food in the
form of milk and could bear the more mature kind
which requires the instruments which I have men-
tioned.

If, then, anyone gives way to insolent presumption 201
and strikes out his servant’s tooth which ministers
obediently to his most essential needs, sustenance
and survival, he must set at liberty the victim of his
injustice and suffer himself the loss of the services
and ministries of the injured party.* Is a tooth then,

I shall be asked, of the same value as an eye? They 202
are both, I should reply, of the same value for the pur-
poses for which they were made, the eye being made
for what is visible, the tooth for what is edible. And
if anyone cares to compare these, he will find that the
eye is the noblest of the body’s members because it
contemplates the heaven which is the noblest part of
the universe, while the tooth is useful as the operator

α Thus the ius talionis is preserved, as both lose a servant. '
601

PHILO

, \ \ “-- 9 4 A e \ \ 3
τάτου πρὸς τὸ ζῆν, ἐργάτην: καὶ ὁ μὲν τὰς ὄψεις
> Ἁ 9 ’ “- “- \ 3 4
ἀποβαλὼν οὐ κεκώλυται βιοῦν, τῷ δὲ ἐκκοπέντι

oN δῷ 7 3 , ,ὕ 3 3 ὕ

203 τοὺς ὀδόντας ἐφεδρεύει θάνατος οἴκτιστος. εἰ δή
9 ~ aA
τις ἐπιβουλεύει περὶ τὰ μέρη ταῦτα τοῖς οἰκέταις,
μὴ ἀγνοείτω λιμὸν ἐν εὐθηνίᾳ καὶ εὐετηρίᾳ κατα-
,
σκευάζων τούτοις χειροποίητον: τί yap ὄφελος
> / A 4 “-- Ἁ , A Ἁ 4
ἀφθονίαν μὲν εἶναι τροφῶν, τὰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν διοί-
κησιν αὐτῶν ὄργανα σεσυλῆσθαι καὶ ἀποβεβληκέναι
χαλεπῶν ἕνεκα καὶ ἀμειλίκτων καὶ ὠμοθύμων
204 δεσποτῶν; διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἑτέρωθι παρὰ χρεωστῶν
A e
ἀπαγορεύει δανεισταῖς μύλον ἢ ἐπιμύλιον ῥύσιον
a e “-- “--
αἰτεῖν, ἐπειπὼν ὅτι ὁ τοῦτο δρῶν ψυχὴν ἐνεχυριάζει"
ὁ γὰρ τὰ τοῦ ζῆν ὄργανα ἀφαιρούμενος ἐπ᾽ ἀνδρο-
/ 4 A “-- 9 4
φονίαν ἵεται, μέχρι Kat ψυχῆς ἐπιβουλεύειν
διανοηθείς.
’ὔ 3 VA “a 4
205 Τοσαύτην δὲ πρόνοιαν ἐποιήσατο τοῦ μηδένα
παραίτιόν τινι γενέσθαι θανάτου, ws καὶ τοὺς
προσαψαμένους νεκροῦ σώματος, ὃ τελευτὴν ἐν-

; \ \ , ” a \ 20\ 1
δέδεκται τὴν κατὰ φύσιν, οἴεται δεῖν μὴ εὐθὺς
εἶναι καθαρούς, μέχρις ἂν περιρρανάμενοι καὶ ἀπο-

“-- e
λουσάμενοι καθαρθῶσιν. εἰς μέντοι τὸ ἱερὸν οὐδὲ

a A fA 9 9 4 e ~
τοῖς σφόδρα καθαροῖς ἐφῆκεν εἰσιέναι ἐντὸς ἡμερῶν

1 Cohn, while retaining εὐθὺς, adds excludendum videtur.
See note 6.

α Deut. xxiv. 6. See App. p. 641.

>’ Numbers xix. 11 ff. Philo here, in concluding the treatise,
leaves the discussion of acts of violence and recurs to murder
in the proper sense. The argument in the next three sections
is exactly similar to that of § 63, viz. that if a thing when

602

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 202-205

of what is most useful for maintaining life, namely
food. Also anyone who has lost his sight is not
thereby prevented from living, but one who has had
his teeth struck out has only a most miserable death
awaiting him. So if anyone takes steps to injure his 203
servants in this part of their bodies he must recognize
that the effect of his act upon them is a famine
artificially created in the midst of abundance and
plenty. For what use have they for a generous
supply of food if they have been robbed of the
instruments needed for dealing effectively with it,
lost to them through the actions of hard, cruel
and merciless masters? And therefore elsewhere 204
the lawgiver forbids creditors to demand that
their debtors should give their mill or upper mill-
stone as a surety, and he adds that anyone who
does so takes the life to pledge. For one who
deprives another of the instruments needed to pre-
serve existence is well on the way to murder, since
his hostile intentions extend to attacking life itself.

>So careful was the lawgiver to guard against any- 205
one helping to bring about the death of another that
he considers that even those who have touched the
corpse of one who has met a natural death must
remain unclean® until they have been purified by
aspersions and ablutions. Indeed he did not permit
even the fully cleansed to enter the temple within

caused naturally and innocently produces defilement, how
much more defiling must it be if caused in a sinful way!

¢ If εὐθύς is retained in its present position, it should mean
they are not straight away (1.6. necessarily) clean, as might
be expected since what they have done is natura] and innocent.
This is very strained. The sense to be expected is that they
are ipso facto unclean, but this would be rather εὐθὺς μή.
To omit the word would certainly simplify the sense.

603

PHILO

ἕπτά, τρίτῃ καὶ ἑβδόμῃ κελεύσας ἀφαγνίζεσθαι.
Ψ ’ A A 3 “-« 3 > », 3
206 ETL μέντοι καὶ τοῖς εἰσιοῦσιν εἰς οἰκίαν, ἐν 4
τετελεύτηκέ TIS, προστάττει μηδενὸς ἅπτεσθαι,
᾽ nN 9 , \ iY 9 A , Φ
μέχρις ἂν ἀπολούσωνται καὶ τὰς ἐσθῆτας αἷς
ἀμπίσχοντο προσαποπλύναντες: σκεύη δὲ καὶ
9
ἔπιπλα καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἔνδον εἶναι συμβέβηκε πάνθ
e 3 3 A 9 ’ e A Ἁ \ 3
207 ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἀκάθαρτα ἡγεῖται. ψυχὴ yap ἀν-
θρώπου τίμιον, ἧς μετανισταμένης καὶ μετοικι-
ζομένης τὰ ἀπολειφθησόμενα πάντα μιαΐίνεται
’ , 9 9 9 A A e
στερόμενα θείας εἰκόνος, ἐπειδὴ θεοειδὴς ὁ
ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς πρὸς ἀρχέτυπον ἰδέαν, τὸν ἀνω-
| |
208 TaTw λόγον, τυπωθείς. ἔστω δέ, φησίν,
> ’ \ \ ” 4 BD) e 3 4
ἀκάθαρτα καὶ ta ἄλλα ὅσων av ὁ ἀκάθαρτος
’ A “A
προσάψηται, μετουσίᾳ τοῦ μὴ καθαροῦ μιαινόμενα.
’ ὃ᾽ 9 4 e \ a 9 ’
καθολικωτέραν δ᾽ ἀπόφασιν ὁ χρησμὸς οὗτος ἔοικέ
A 3 > A , > A 4 . @¢ 7
πως δηλοῦν, οὐκ ἐπὶ σώματος αὐτὸ μόνον ioTd-
3 Ἁ 3 A ’ ’
μενος, ἀλλὰ ἤθη καὶ τρόπους προσδιερευνώμενος
“A > 4 Ἁ 4 e 3 \
209 ψυχῆς. ἀκάθαρτος yap κυρίως ὁ ἄδικος Kal
4 / ~ > ’ ~
[334] ἀσεβής, ὅτῳ μήτε τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων μήτε | TeV
’ 9 ’ > 9 , , \
θείων αἰδώς τις εἰσέρχεται, πάντα φύρων καὶ
\ ’ »“» δας"
συγχέων διά τε τὰς ἀμετρίας τῶν παθῶν καὶ τὰς
~ “A / @
τῶν κακιῶν ὑπερβολάς, ὥστε ὧν av ἐφάψηται
4 / > 9 \ > » “A “- aA
πραγμάτων πάντ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐπίληπτα TH τοῦ δρῶντος

α Philo’s account differs from Numbers in that he implies
that, except to get admission to the temple, a purification at

604

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 206-209

seven days and ordered them to purge themselves

on the third and seventh.* Further too, those who 206
enter a house in which anyone has died are ordered
not to touch anything until they have bathed them-
selves and also washed the clothes which they were
wearing.® And all the vessels and articles of furni-
ture, and anything else that happens to be inside,
practically everything is held by him to be unclean.°
For a man’s soul is a precious thing, and when it 207
departs to seek another home, all that will be left
behind is defiled, deprived as it is of the divine
image. For it is the mind of man which has the
form of God, being shaped in conformity with the ideal
archetype, the Word that is above all.

Everything else too, he says, that the unclean person 208
touches must be unclean, being defiled by its par-
ticipation in the uncleanness.? This pronouncement
may be thought to include a more far-reaching veto,
not merely stopping short with the body but ex-
tending its inquiry to matters of temperament and
characteristics of soul. For the unjust and impious 209
man is in the truest sense unclean. No thought of
respect for things human or divine ever enters his
mind. He puts everything into chaos and confusion,

so inordinate are his passions and so prodigious his
vices, and thus every deed to which he sets his
hand is reprehensible, changing in conformity with

the time is enough, and the man is then ‘fully cleansed.”
In Numbers everyone who touches the corpse is impure for
seven days and requires the purging on the third and seventh.
The exclusion from the temple only appears (vv. 13 and 20),
in the words ‘‘ whosoever . . . purifieth not himself defileth
the tabernacle of the Lord.” .

> Ibid. v. 14: “‘ washing the clothes,” v. 19.

¢ Ibid. v. 15. 4 Ibid. v. 22.

605

PHILO

, , ‘ \ me: 3
συμμεταβάλλοντα μοχθηρίᾳ: καὶ γὰρ κατὰ τοὺὐ-
’ e 4 aA 3 aA 3 ’
ναντίον ai πράξεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπαινεταί, βελ-

4 A “- ᾿ A 3 A
τιούμεναι ταῖς τῶν ἐνεργούντων ἀρεταῖς, ἐπειδὴ

4 4 A 4 a ~ 3 ~
πέφυκέ πως τὰ γινόμενα τοῖς δρῶσιν ἐξομοιοῦσθαι.

α These last two sections are not really germane to the sub-

606

THE SPECIAL LAWS, III. 209

the worthlessness of the doer. For conversely all
the doings of the good are laudable, gaining merit
through the virtues of the agents in accordance with
the general law that the results of actions assimilate
themselves to the actors.@

ject. The point is introduced because of the spiritual lesson
which can be drawn from it.

607

APPENDIX TO DE DECALOGO

§ 1. For knowledge loves to learn, etc. As stated in the
footnote, the phrasing seems almost impossible. I can find
no case where ἐπιστήμη bears a sense which could be coupled
with φιλομαθής, or where διάνοια means an understanding
which is above knowledge. The translators appear to be at
a loss. ‘Treitel has ‘“‘ wegen der auf den tieferen Sinn
gerichteten Schriftforschung.”” But how can ἐπιστήμη ΞΞ
** Schriftforschung "ὃ Mangey (perhaps translating the con-
jecture mentioned below) has “‘ reconditae scientiae studio et
curiosae.”” Yonge (probably translating Mangey) “ natural
love of more recondite and laborious study.” The emenda-
tions mentioned are Mangey’s δι᾿ ὑπονοιῶν for πρὸς διάνοιαν,
and Wendland’s ἐπιστάσεως for ἐπιστήμης. If ἐπίστασις can
= ‘‘intentio,” this will give some sense, though it would be
better if ὑπόνοιαν is accepted for διάνοιαν (ὑπόνοια sing. is
used for “ allegorizing ᾽ in Spec. Leg. ii. 257).

§ 21. The arithmetical, etc. This seems to be very loosely
expressed. ἀναλογία does not carry with it the idea of a
series like our ‘‘ progression,”’ but of an equality of ratio, and
indeed it can only be properly (κυρίως) applied, as Nicomachus
says, to the geometrical. It certainly cannot itself be said to
exceed or be exceeded. Philo has stated it quite clearly in
De Op. 108, in much the same words as are used in the
translation. Possibly here also we should read # (ὁ μέσος
ὅρος) ὑπερέχει, κτλ.

8 80. The categories. Philo follows with little variation
the two lists given by Aristotle in Topica, i. 9 and Categoriae
4 of the 10 categories. But he carries them away into a
very different region from Aristotle’s logical meaning of
predicates or “classification of the manners in which
assertions may be made of the subject.’’ His reason for
asserting that he has οὐσία, and his view of time and place
(in Aristotle πότε and ποῦ) as the indispensables for all

VOL. VII QR 609

PHILO

existence are quite foreign to Aristotle’s thought, at any rate
in drawing up this list.

§ 39. (Text of ὅτε δὲ προστάττων, etc.) Cohn deals with this
passage in Hermes, 1903, pp. 502 f., but not very conclusively.
The solution he would prefer is to omit ὅτε δὲ and to correct
(with one ms.) ἰδίᾳ to ἰδίᾳ δ᾽, a change which he bases largely
on the improbability of such an hiatus as ἰδίᾳ ws. I do not
feel competent to estimate the value of this last argument
(see remarks on Spec. Leg. i. 90, App. p. 620). The omission
of ὅτε δὲ has some support from one ms. (6), which has
διαλέγεται evi ἑκάστῳ προστάττων, κτλ. Of the rest, one has
ἑνί, ὅτε δὲ, the others an obvious corruption of this, ἐνίοτε de.
No doubt with Cohn’s changes the sentence is translatable.
He, however, says that he cannot see the sense of τῶν
ἐμφερομένων, which he justly remarks cannot mean, as
Mangey takes it, “‘eorum qui adsunt.’’ I think the sense
given in the translation, which will also fit in with the form
suggested by Cohn, does not present much difficulty. In
the kind of oration which Philo has in mind definite in-
struction as to the steps to be taken (τὰ πρακτέα) would be
only part of the contents.

§ 54. They call air Hera. This is first suggested by Plato,
Cratylus 404 c (ἀήρ being an anagram of ἤρα) and was
adopted by the Stoics. See particularly Diog. Laert. vii. 147,
where Hera is the name given to the divine power in virtue
of its extension (διάτασις) to the air, as Athena, Poseidon,
Hephaestus and Demeter represent its extension to aether,
sea, fire and earth. For other references see Index to S. V.F.
So also Philo, De Vit. Cont. 3, where the name is supposed
to be derived παρὰ τὸ αἴρεσθαι καὶ μετεωρίζεσθαι εἰς τὸ ὕψος.

8 56. Living on alternate days. Or perhaps as Philo
understands it “living (and dying) alternately every day,”
which is what the interpretation of the story by the hemi-
spheres requires. So, too, in the other place where he alludes
to the story, De Som. i. 150, since the antithesis there is
between sleeping and waking. The only other passage
where I have found this interpretation is in Sext. Emp. Adv.
math. ix. 37 τὰ yap δύο ἡμισφαίρια τό τε ὑπὲρ γῆς καὶ τὸ
ὑπὸ γῆν Διοσκούρους οἱ σοφοὶ τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων ἔλεγον.

8 77. (Egyptian animal worship.) See Herodotus ii. 65-74.
These chapters lay stress chiefly on cats (atiAovpor) and
crocodiles, but ibises and snakes are mentioned also. Juv.
xv. 1-7 mentions crocodiles, ibises, apes, dogs and _ fishes.

610

APPENDICES

On these lines Mayor has collected a number of illustrations,
among them Philo, Legatto 139, where he speaks very
briefly in the same sense as here. Neither Herodotus nor
Juvenal mentions wolves and lions, and I see no other
allusion to them in Mayor’s quotations.

§ 88. ἐγὼ μέν ye. This is one of the small matters in which
an earlier knowledge of the Palimpsest would apparently
have led Cohn to alter his reading. His mss. have μὲν,
except M which has μὲν yap, on the strength of which he
printed μέν ye. The Palimpsest has μὲν οὖν, which he con-
siders preferable. Unwilling or unable to judge, I have
retained μέν ye with this warning.

§ 92. τὰ κενὰ τῶν. This emendation of μὲν αὐτῶν to κενὰ
τῶν seems certain and will perhaps support my emendation
of the same two words in De Mig. 164, where I have altered
them to μελιττῶν.

§ 96. Oncea month. The principal passages quoted in sup-
port of this are Herod. vi. 57, where he says that the Spartans
made offerings to Apollo at every new moon and seventh day
of the month, and Hes. Op. 770, where the seventh day is said
to be sacred as Apollo’s birthday. Also there are inscriptions
in various places where ἑβδομαῖος and ἑβδομαῖον appear as
epithets of Apollo or indicating feasts held in his honour.
See references in L. & S. (revised).

Ibid. (σελήνην or θεὸν) Cohn writing in Hermes, 1903,
p. 548, before the discovery of the Palimpsest, had declared
for σελήνην. His explanation of the corruption to θεὸν is that
it arises from the scribes mistaking the astronomical symbol

of the moon for ΘΝ --Ἠ θεόν. (This would be convincing if this
symbol were as he describes it. Onmy present information it
is rather C, while Θ =the sun.) Prima facie it does not seem
impossible that in a country where the opening of the sacred
and lunar month has to be distinguished from the civil the
phrase ‘‘ according to the goddess ”’ might have been in such
common use that Philo might employ it without much
thought or scruple. See note on Spec. Leg. iii. 171. But the
discovery that the Palimpsest actually has σελήνην certainly
weights the evidence strongly in favour of it.

§ 106. προστάττεται for πρὸς τὰ πέντε, which may be
presumed from Cohn’s silence to be the reading of the
Palimpsest as well as of the other mss, is adopted by him on
the grounds that TTETAI might easily be corrupted to
IIENTE, and that the Armenian version gives a similar sense

611

PHILO

“ἐ πὲ videtur.”” If this last is clearly established, the emenda-
tion may be accepted. Otherwise it is difficult to see why a
word like προστάττειν, which perpetually recurs in these
treatises, should be corrupted. The reading of G, €vot
(‘‘ unites ’’) πρὸς τὰ ἕτερα πέντε καὶ συνάπτει TH δευτέρᾳ, looks,
as he says, like an unsuccessful attempt to emend the
passage. Perhaps we might consider as an alternative
προστεθέν τε, “last of the first pentad in which are the most
sacred things and added to it,”’ 1.6. “δῇ appendage.” Philo
often uses προσθήκη with a sense of inferiority, e.g. Spec. Leg.
ii. 248, and it would fitly describe the relation of the fifth to
the first four commandments.

§ 116. (Filial affection of storks.) The currency of this idea
is best shewn by the existence of the verb ἀντιπελαργεῖν =
“το return kindness.” Other mentions of it will be found in
Aristotle, Hist. Anim. ix. 18, Aristophanes, Av. 1353 ff.; and
the φρονιμώτατοι οἰωνοί of Sophocles, Hl. 1058, “who are
careful to nourish those who gave them nurture,”’ are no
doubt the same.

§ 120. Some bolder spirits. One such is Hierocles the
Stoic quoted by Stobaeus (Meineke, iii. p. 96), ods (sc.
γονεῖς) δευτέρους καὶ ἐπιγείους τινὰς θεοὺς οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι
τις, ἕνεκά γε τῆς ἐγγύτητος, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, καὶ θεῶν ἡμῖν
τιμιωτέρους. Heinemann quotes Dikaiogenes (Fr. 5 Nauck),
θεὸς μέγιστος τοῖς φρονοῦσιν of γονεῖς. The ordinary Stoic
view is given by Diog. Laert. vii. 120, that parents, brothers
and sisters are to be reverenced next to the gods.

§§ 142-146. This disquisition on the four passions is
thoroughly Stoic in substance and much of its phraseology
is found elsewhere. Thus any passion is a κίνησις ψυχῆς παρὰ
φύσιν (S.V.F. iii. 389, and elsewhere). So, too, pleasure is
ἔπαρσις ἄλογος (7bid. 391). A passage which closely resembles
this is Οἷς. De Fin. ii. 13 (S.V.F. iii. 404) “ (Voluptatem)
Stoici . . . sic definiunt: sublationem animi sine ratione,
opinantis se magno bono frui.’’ πτοία, which Philo associates
with fear, is a characteristic of all four; (λέγουσι) πᾶσαν πτοίαν
πάθος εἶναι καὶ πᾶν πάθος πτοίαν (ibid. 378), while ἀγωνία is a
subdivision of φόβος, defined by Diog. Laert. vii. 112 as
φόβος ἀδήλου πράγματος (ibid. 407). Also ἐπιθυμία is often an
“ὄρεξις, though none of the definitions quoted otherwise agree
closely with Philo’s. I have not found any parallels to his idea
that desire differs from the others in being more voluntary.

For a shorter definition of the four see Mos. ii. 139.

612

APPENDICES

᾿ς § 147. (Text at end of section.) Cohn in his description of
the Palimpsest has an interesting if not quite convincing
theory about this. In place of ἀμαυροῦνται καὶ θροῦ the
Palimpsest has in the main body of the text ὁμάδου τε καὶ
θροῦ beginning the next sentence, while ἀμαυροῦνται is set in
smaller writing on the margin. Cohn’s view is that ὁμάδου
τε is the original text, and was corrupted in one or more mss. to
ἀμαυροῦνται, which was then set in others such as the Palimpsest
as a marginal variant and finally ousted the real words. One
may perhaps accept his theory about the corruption of ὁμάδου
τε to ἀμαυροῦνται, which as he says is not indispensable to the
construction, but his other argument that ὁμάδου τε is wanted
to correspond to ὀφθαλμοί τε in the previous sentence seems
questionable. ‘“‘Both...and” are expressed by te... καί,
as well as by re... τε.

§ 158. τὸ περὶ τῆς ἑβδομάδος. While there would be no
great difficulty in this passage, where the virtues of the
number are so prominent, in taking ἑβδομάς as = ‘‘ the number
seven,” there can be no doubt that Philo does sometimes use
it for the seventh day See notes on Quis Rerum 170, where
we have ἀπραξία ascribed to it, and Mos. i. 205, where οὐδὲν
ἐφεῖται δρᾶν ἐν αὐτῇ, i.e. on ἱερὰ ἑβδομάς. So, too, Jos. Contra
Apion. ii. 282 τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἣν ἀργοῦμεν ἡμεῖς. This use is
ignored in L. & S. (revised), which indeed has expunged the
entry of older editions, ‘‘ The seventh day, Eccl.”’

On the other hand, ἑβδόμη below appears to be used for
ἑβδομάς, as also in Spec. Leg. ii. 40 τῆς ἐν ἀριθμοῖς ἑβδόμης,
and there are other instances in earlier treatises, where clearly
the number and not the seventh day is under consideration,
e.g. De Op. 116, De Post. 64. I leave to experts to consider
whether a confusion of the two words may have been pro-
duced by varying interpretations of ζ΄.

§ 159. ‘epounvia. Except in Mos. ii. 23, where he is
apparently referring to pagan use, Philo consistently uses
this word to denote the first of Tishri or Feast of Trumpets
(New Year’s day in the civil year). Whether this usage is in
accordance with its regular meaning in classical Greek is not
clear to me. The general opinion seems to be that there it
indicates a period during which, as stated in the note on Mos.
loc. cit., hostilities or legal proceedings are forbidden, not a
particular day. See Dict. of Ant. and L. & S. (revised),
where it is only given two meanings, “‘ sacred month during
which the great festivals were held and hostilities suspended,”

613

PHILO

and (in the plural) “sacrifices offered during the sacred
month.” On the other hand Stephanus gives examples from
Harpocration, Scholiasts, etc., which assert that it means a
festal day, and that is what is suggested in Mos. loc. cit.,
where it is contrasted with the single day fast of the Jews.

A scholiast on Pind. Nem. iii. 2, who says that ἑερομηνία is
an abbreviation κατὰ σύντμησιν of ἱερονουμηνία ‘‘ because the
beginnings of months are sacred to Apollo,”’ expresses, what-
ever his authority may be worth, the idea which had occurred
to me in connexion with Spec. Leg. i. 180. I refer these
points to the lexicographer. The entry in L. & S. is clearly
inadequate.

614

APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, I

§ 2. (Circumcision in Egypt.) The original authority for
this is Herodotus ii. 36. In itself it is not impossible that
Philo, knowing little of the intimate practices of the Egyptians
outside the Jewish and Hellenistic world, should take
Herodotus for his authority. But in Quaest. in Gen. iii. 47,
48, where he gives the arguments for circumcision in much
the same way as here, he adds that the Egyptians circumcised
females as well as males and at the age of puberty, and
neither of these did he find in Herodotus. The statement
made here is supported by Diodorus i. 28, iii. 32. Josephus,
Contra Apion. ii. 140 ff. says positively that the Egyptian
priests were circumcised, but the fact that Apion, himself an
Egyptian, appears to have ridiculed the Jews on this ground
tells rather against it for the nation at large. See on the
whole question Wendland in Archiv fiir Papyrusforschung
ii. (1903) (referred to by Goodenough, p. 30).

86. The spirit force in the heart. The doctrine and
phraseology is Stoic. So ‘All the Stoics say that τὸ
ἡγεμονικόν resides ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ἢ ἐν τῷ περὶ THY καρδίαν
πνεύματι,᾽᾽ S.V.F. ii. 838. The ἡγεμονικόν itself is ἃ πνεῦμα
according to them, 267d. 96. For the question between the
brain and the heart as the seat of the mind see §§ 213 f.
below.

8 25. “ Blind”’ wealth. Philo in several places, 6.0. ii. 23
below, De Abr. 25, contrasts the ‘‘ seeing ’’ with the ‘‘ blind ”
riches, and in these passages he borrows the phrase from
Plato, Laws 631 c πλοῦτος οὐ τυφλὸς ἀλλ᾽ ὀξὺ βλέπων, though
the thought is not quite the same, since with Plato the
‘* seeing wealth ’’ is wealth in the literal sense used wisely,
with Philo wisdom or virtue itself. But here, where there is
no such contrast and the stress is rather on the uncertainty
of riches, τοῦ λεγομένου may refer rather to the fable, earlier
than Plato, that Zeus made Plutus blind, so that he should

615

PHILO

ae his gifts without regard to merit (see Aristophanes,
lutus).

on Some assert .. . state of flux. Cf. e.g. Plato,
Theaetetus 160 D κατὰ μὲν Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡράκλειτον καὶ πᾶν
τὸ τοιοῦτον φῦλον οἷον ῥεύματα κινεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα, Cratylus
402 a λέγει που Ἡράκλειτος ὅτι πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει,
καὶ ποτάμου ῥωῇ ἀπεικάζων τὰ πάντα λέγει ὡς δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν
ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης. Rather nearer to our passage is
Aristot. Physica viii. 3, 253 Ὁ 9, φασί τινες (apparently the
Heracleiteans) κινεῖσθαι τῶν ὄντων od τὰ μὲν τὰ δ᾽ οὔ, ἀλλὰ
πάντα καὶ ἀεί, ἀλλὰ λανθάνειν τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν.

§ 28. θεοὺς. . ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς. The phrase seems to
me to suggest primarily the use of the supernatural as a
facile way of getting out of a difficulty and to carry with
it the idea of artificiality rather than suddenness and un-
expectedness. The fact that the ‘‘ machine”? was employed
to bring the god hovering over the stage is incidental, though
it served to enhance the impression of something artificial
and slightly ludicrous. To take the examples given in
Stephanus, this is the sense in Plato, Cratylus 425 τὸ ὥσπερ οἱ
τραγῳδοποιοί, ἐπειδάν TL ἀπορῶσιν, ἐπὶ τὰς μηχανὰς καταφεύγουσι
θεοὺς αἴροντες (“like the tragic poets who in any perplexity
have their gods waiting in the air,”” Jowett), and in Aristotle,
Poetics xv. 7. So in Plutarch, Them. 10 Themistocles
employs oracles and divine signs ὥσπερ ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ μηχανὴν
ἄρας. In Demosthenes, p. 1026. 1 Τιμοκράτης μόνος ἀπὸ
τοσούτων, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς, μαρτυρεῖ, the thought seems to
be that he assumes the réle of a superior being. In Plato (?),
Cleittophon 407 α the point is different, viz. that the gods
in these appearances are apt to rebuke the follies of humanity.
In our passage and in ii. 165 the main idea seems to be
artificiality.

§§ 33 f. The argument from design has been given in much
the same form in Leg. All. iii. 97-99. For other statements
of it see S.V.F. ii. 1009-1020, particularly Cic. De Nat.
Deorum, ii. 16-17, iii. 26. Cf. also Οἷα. Tusce. i. 68 (referred
to by Heinemann), Pro Milone 83, 84 and Xen. Mem. i. 4.

§ 55. (Lynching of apostates.) Two questions arise here,
(1) whether the lynching so strongly recommended here and
almost as explicitly in § 316 is in accordance with Deut.,
(2) whether it was customary or practicable in Philo’s time.
As to (1), in Deut. xiii. 6-11, which I take to be more to
the point than ibid. 12-17 (enjoining the destruction of an

616

APPENDICES

apostate city), which Heinemann cites, the E.V. merely says,
‘thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the
people.”” Philo would indeed find in the ixx, instead of
‘thou shalt surely kill him,” ‘‘thou shalt surely report it”
(ἀναγγέλλων ἀναγγελεῖς), which sounds more judicial. But in
§ 316 this is interpreted to mean that the report is to be sent
round to summon the lovers of piety to assist in the execution.
In Deut. xvii. 4-7 a careful inquiry is to be made when such
a call is reported, and two or three witnesses are required.
Heinemann thinks that Philo is not referring to these passages
at all, but is merely extracting a general law from the case
of Phinehas. I do not think this can be right, so far as
Deut. xiii. is concerned, as in § 316 he formally expounds that
passage. As for Deut. xvii., Philo if faced with it might
reply that it does not suggest a formal trial, but that the
self-constituted executioners before taking action must assure
themselves that the charge is true, and that what he says here
does not deny that.

As to (2), Goodenough (pp. 36 ff.) argues that the Acts (6.9.
Stephen’s execution and the attempts to stone Paul) shews
that the Jews did sometimes inflict capital punishment without
direct permission from the Roman government. He also
cites 3 Maccabees vii. 10-15, which gives an account of
a decree of Ptolemy Philopator empowering the Jews in
Alexandria to put transgressors against the law to death
(E.V. somewhat inaccurately “ without warrant or special
commission’’) (Greek ἄνευ πάσης βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας 7
ἐπισκέψεως). All this may be true, but hardly meets the
case. Stephen was tried by the Sanhedrin; and the persons
for whose execution Paul voted, Acts xxvi. 10, were pre-
sumably legally tried. And the Decree, even if historical,
need not mean more than that Jewish constituted authorities
might condemn independently of the king. But Philo’s words,
‘Jury, council or any kind of magistrate at all,’ must
surely include Jewish as well as Roman courts. That he
should be seriously encouraging his fellow-Jews in Alexandria,
where we know that the Jews had independent jurisdiction,
to put apostates to death without any legal trial, seems to me
almost impossible. But was it perhaps otherwise in other
cities of the Dispersion, where the Jews had no such privileges
and knew that the ordinary courts would not take cognizance
of apostasy or heresy? Paul’s experiences at Iconium and

617

PHILO

Lystra possibly lend themselves to such a view. It is to Jews
so circumstanced that this section is addressed if it has any
practical bearing. Otherwise it must be regarded as a
rhetorical way of saying that apostasy is so hateful a crime
that to avenge it on the spot is not only pardonable but a duty.

§ 58. The connexion of this section, which comes in so
oddly as it stands, would become much clearer, if we might
suppose that some words had been lost at the end, as “‘ such
practices Moses absolutely forbids.” In this case a new
paragraph would begin with ἔνιοι δέ, linked with the preceding
by the antithesis of the two bondages, but introducing the
new subject of indirectly idolatrous practices. What he
means by the “like principle’? would then become quite
clear. It may be noted that in Lev. xix. the prohibition of
printing marks comes in directly after and is followed shortly
by denunciation of divination and the like.

§§ 59 ff. Goodenough, pp. 37 f., observes that Philo ignores
the passages in Leviticus which prescribe the death-penalty
for some kinds of divination and only alludes to Deut. xvii.
where we have no punishment prescribed but expulsion from
the commonwealth and that only indirectly. In this he sees
a reflection of the fact that public opinion would not have
tolerated stoning such persons, while the Roman government
always discouraged and in a.p. 16 expelled them from Italy.
But he fails to note that Deut. provided Philo with a far
more specific list of the forms of μαντική, on which he enlarges
in the following section, and also that it leads on to the
promise of the true divination, which is described in § 65.

§ 67. Only one temple. Cohn and Heinemann note that
Josephus also gives the same reason for the one temple
(Contra Apion. ii. 193, Ant. iv. 200). It does not follow
that Josephus is dependent on Philo. The argument of the
oneness of God, which Josephus supplements with the oneness
of the Hebrew race, was an obvious argument against the
attempts to build other temples like that of Leontopolis in
the Dispersion.

§§ 71 f. The temple here described is of course Herod’s
temple (18 or 19 8.c.), elaborately described by Josephus,
Wars v. and Ant.xv. Philo (Mangey ii. 646, an extract
from De Providentia) speaks of something which he saw
at Ascalon, when he visited that city in the course of a
journey to “‘ the temple of his fathers to pray and sacrifice.”
The passage does not in the least suggest that this was his

618

APPENDICES

only visit to Jerusalem, and he may have gone there often,
though I cannot find authority for Edersheim’s statement
that he acted as envoy to carry the tributes (see § 78). But
whether he went there once or oftener, there is not much
sign of personal observation in his description of the building
itself, which is very slight compared with Josephus’s. Heine-
mann (Bildung, p. 16) notes an inaccuracy, viz. that the
sanctuary stood in the “very middle,” whereas the part in
front was much larger than the part behind. However, that
the description should be slight is natural enough. He is
expounding the laws of the Pentateuch and these did not
provide for the building which would be needed when the
nation was settled in Palestine, as he himself observes in
Mos. ii. 72, 73, but only for a portable sanctuary This last
with its furniture was fully described in Mos. ii. 74-108, and
the omission of any such description here may be due to
a feeling that this one part of the law had been definitely
suspended.

§ 79. (The consecration of the Levites.) The idea that the
Levites received consecration as a reward for slaughtering
the idolaters is supposed to have been obtained by Philo
from Ex. xxxii. 29, ‘‘consecrate yourselves to the Lord,”’
where the Hebrew phrase is literally “ fill your hands,”’ which
the 1xx translates literally, but in the indicative, ‘‘ ye have
filled your hands.” In Ex. xxviii. 41 (37) the same Hebrew
phrase evidently meaning “consecrate” or “install” és
translated in txx by “thou shalt fill their hands.” See
Driver on both passages. In the other eight passages, how-
ever, cited by Driver from the Pentateuch, where the same
phrase is used in the Hebrew, the txx has a different verb,
τελειόω with or without χεῖρας. It seems to me rather doubtful
whether Philo would have seen consecration in the words
“γα have filled your hands every man against his son,”’ etc.,
and more likely that he found it rather in the words that
follow, “‘ that a blessing should be given you.”

§ 80. Redundant ... excrescence. The E.V. in Lev.
xxi. 18 has ‘‘ anything superfluous,” which prima facie would
seem to be represented here by κατὰ πλεονασμὸν περιττεύσαντος.
But in the xx the word in the list of defects corresponding
to the Hebrew translated as “superfluous” is ὠτότμητος,
‘‘ with a split ear.”’ Is this one of the few cases where Philo
seems somehow to have known the Hebrew? Heinemann
does not notice the point.

619

PHILO

§ 83. εὐχάς =votive offerings. Ifthe word is genuine here,
this must surely be the sense, as what requires an unhampered
rapidity must be a concrete object. The word seems to be
used in the ixx in this sense, Deut. xii. 6, 17, 26, but I
cannot find that it is so used elsewhere by Philo or other
authors. Stephanus only quotes it from inscriptions and
L. & S. (revised) do not mention it at all. I have left the
text as Cohn prints it, pending further knowledge as to what
is exactly meant by the ἢ appended to R’s εὐχὰς, or what the
Armenian, which is extant for this part, has to say. |

§ 90. (φῶς ἡλίου as R, or as Cohn φῶς, ἡλίου ἥλιος ?) Cohn’s
principal objection to the reading of what he considers the
best authority, R, is that ἡλίου ἀνέλαμψεν is an inadmissible
hiatus. I do not know how far this argument is valid.
Cohn nowhere, so far as I know, formulates his doctrine of
hiatus. On p. 197 of the article in Hermes, 1908, he gives
examples of corrigenda, and amongst them is γάμον οὕτως
for γάμου οὕτως, and γάμων ἁγνήν for γάμου ἅγνης. I do not
understand how on these principles his own ἡλίου ἥλιος is to
stand. It is no doubt an objection to R’s reading that it does
not account for the φῶς ἥλιος or φῶς ἥλιος δ᾽ of the other
mss. Could not this be met by φῶς ἥλιός 7°? ~Mangey has ἥλιος
διανέλαμψε, to which Cohn objects that there is no such word,
i.e. it is not found in the dictionaries. This is no argument at
all, see on Mos. i. 172. Words compounded with διά and ἀνά
are fairly common, and the διά would have some point here.

§ 96. tepwyevov. Cohn, who printed ἱερώμενον (present of
ἱεράομαι), later declared for the mss. ἱερωμένον (perfect parti-
ciple of tepéw), and this is followed in the translation. But
except for the mss., iéepdpevov=" acting as priest,’’ makes
equally good sense.

§ 103. Scars and prints. Cohn quotes Seneca, De Ira,
i. 16. 7, S.V.F. i. 215 *‘ Nam ut dicit Zenon, in sapientis
quoque animo, etiam cum vulnus sanatum est, cicatrix
manet. Sentiet itaque suspiciones quasdam et umbras affec-
tuum, ipsis quidem carebit.’’ This is not quite the same. The
figure of the scarred soul was familiar to Philo from Gorgias
524 Ἐ.

§ 146. The thought here, though differing in detail, bears
in mind Timaeus 69 £, where the mortal soul is placed in
the thorax, with its nobler part = θυμός divided by the midriff
from the baser=émiOvpia. The θυμός is settled nearer the
head, in order that it may be under the control of the reason

620

APPENDICES

and join with it in restraining the lusts. The sequel in Plato
is definitely quoted i in § 149, where see footnote.

§ 172. dv ἣν αἰτίαν ... Cohn suggests completing this
passage thus: δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν τοῦτο προστέτακται αὐτίκα λεκτέον"
ἐαρινῇ μὲν κτλ. That is, ἣν stands for τίνα or ἥντινα and intro-
duces an indirect question. This is no doubt common in
Greek and may be in Philo, though I have not noticed an
example; ii. 251 is not as it stands parallel. On the other
hand, it may be pure relative, and introduce something of
which the preceding statement is the cause. So above, § 124,
and ii. 51.

§ 180. At the beginning of the year. Though the Jewish
sacred year began with Nisan in the spring, the civil year
continued to begin with Tishri in the autumn. See article
“Time” in Hastings’ Biblical Dictionary, and cf. Jos. Ant.
i. 81. Heinemann, however, says that Philo knows nothing
of this, and is merely following the Macedonian calendar
introduced into Egypt. He certainly seems to take it for
granted, ii. 153, that the month of the autumnal equinox is
the ‘‘ first in the sun’s revolution.’’ He must, however, have
known that in Ex. xxiii. 16 and elsewhere in the Law, the
Feast of Tabernacles is said to occur at the ‘going out
(ἔξοδος) of the year.”

δ 208. Fullness and Want, ete. That with Heracleitus
κόρος = ἐκπύρωσις and χρησμοσύνη --διακόσμησις is also stated
by Hippolytus (quoted i in Zeller, Pres. Phil. ii. p. 46, note 1),
καλεῖ δὲ αὐτὸ (se. τὸ πῦρ) χρησμοσύνην καὶ κόρον. χρησμοσύνη
δέ ἐστιν ἡ διακόσμησις Kar’ αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ ἐκπύρωσις κόρος. The
thought is perhaps the same in Diog. Laert. ix. 8 (of
Heracleitus), ‘‘ that what tends to γένεσις is called war and
strife, what tends to ἐκπύρωσις is agreement and peace.’

§ 242. Thirdly because . . . thrust from office. The
thought lying behind this somewhat illogical sentence may
be this. In § 117 he has said that all priests, whether suffer-
ing from defects or not, were entitled to eat the sacred meats,
and therefore it might be thought that the defective are
included in ‘“‘every male priest’’; cf. Lev. vi. 29. But in
v. 26 we have “‘ the priest that offers it shall eat of it,’’ and as
the defective cannot offer the sacrifice “ every male priest ”’
pus be taken to mean ‘such as are qualified by freedom of

efect.”’

§ 273. (Footnote a.) It must be remembered of course that
the temple which Hecataeus mentioned is Zerubbabel’s

621

PHILO

temple, not Herod’s, which Philo saw. But it may be pre-
sumed that in a matter like this the third temple would
reproduce the second, about the details of which I under-
stand that little is known.

§ 291. (Wasps bred from horses.) So Plutarch (Cleomenes,
ad fin.) mentions the idea that bees are bred from the car-
casses of oxen, wasps from horses, beetles from donkeys, and
serpents from men.

§ 318. What is pleasing to nature, etc. Philo, I suspect,
substituted the Stoic “nature” for ‘‘ before the Lord thy
God,” because he sees in καλόν and ἀρεστόν Stoic phraseology.
The Stoic identification of τὸ καλόν with the Good is of course
one of their leading doctrines, but ἀρεστόν was also a term
applied to τὸ ἀγαθόν and ἀρετή, cf. S.V.F. iii. 208 τὴν δ᾽
ἀρετὴν πολλοῖς ὀνόμασι προσαγορεύουσι. ἀγαθόν τε yap λέγουσιν
αὐτὴν ὅτι ἄγει ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν ὀρθὸν βίον" καὶ ἀρεστὸν ὅτι δοκιμαστόν
ἐστιν ἀνυπόπτως. So also ibid. 88.

8 321. λόγων ποτίμων. This phrase, which occurs again in
ii. 62 and several times in other treatises, is no doubt a
reminiscence of Phaedrus (243 Ὁ), which has also been clearly,
though rather loosely, quoted in the preceding section. In
Quod Omn. Prob. 13 the same two passages from the
Phaedrus are brought together in the same sentence. The
connexion of πότιμοι λόγοι with Plato is brought out most
clearly in Leg. All. ii. 32, where, as in Plato, they serve to
wash away the briny taste (τὸ ἁλμυρόν).

§ 322. (Footnote 1.) I have adopted Cohn’s reading from
R with the alteration of πνευμάτων into αὐρῶν. But the fact
that the sense which lies behind R’s nonsensical διανέμοντες
αὐτῶν is easily recovered does not, I think, make the reading
of A and H unworthy of consideration. Their wording τὰς

. ἀέρος εὐκρασίας ἀνέμων τε corresponds with the parallel in
De Praem. 41 ἀέρος καὶ πνευμάτων εὐκρασίας, while none
2 a other parallels corresponds with the form postulated

§§ 327-end. (Errors attacked in these sections.) It seems
to me, subject to correction by others more expert in such
matters, that Philo in these allegorical interpretations is not
alluding to particular schools, but to ways of thinking in
general. The theory of Ideas, which he here rather unex-
pectedly adopts as an essential part of the true creed, was, I
think, denied by the Stoics (S.V.F. i. 65), and in the full
Platonic sense by Aristotle, but did any school of Philo’s

622

APPENDICES

time hold it? The atheistical argument in § 330 that God
has been invented to deter men more effectually from evil-
doing is developed at length in an iambic poem (to which
Mr. Angus has called my attention), attributed to the tyrant
Critias, and quoted by Sext. Emp. ix. 54. But this again
does not belong to a particular school. The Stoics sometimes
identified νοῦς and θεός (see on iii. 1), and Heinemann,
(Bildung, Ὁ. 176) quotes Sen. Ep. xxxi. 11, where the
‘animus rectus bonus ᾽ is said to be ‘‘ deus in humano corpore
hospitans.”” But this surely belongs to a region of thought
different from Philo’s description of the practical achieve-
ments of mind. The votaries of sense may at first sight
suggest the Epicureans, who held that sensations are always
true, though our judgements about them are fallible (Zeller,
Stoics and E'picureans, Eng. trans. p. 402), but that again is
different from Philo’s disquisition on the practical value of
the senses. (Heinemann, loc. cit. says that the doctrine of
the divinity of αἴσθησις was ascribed to Diogenes, but I have
been unable to trace the reference.)

My feeling is that by his fourth and fifth class Philo is
simply speaking of the οἴησις which, as he constantly says,
leads men to ascribe to themselves what belongs to God, and
the division into mind and sense, a very reasonable division
since human self-confidence divides itself between the two, is
merely made to fit in with Ammon and Moab, which, on
philological grounds, he identifies with the two.

§ 333. Fourth and fifth class also. Heinemann suggests
with considerable probability that in De Mut. 205 τεθλα-
σμένοι yap τὰ γεννητικὰ τῆς διανοίας ἢ καὶ τελείως ἀποκοπέντες
οἱ τὸν ἴδιον νοῦν καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀποσεμνύνοντες ὡς μόνα τῶν
κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπους αἴτια πραγμάτων, we should read ἀποκοπέντες
<n> ot, thus bringing into the allegory as here Deut. xxiii. 3,
as well as the two preceding verses. ‘The only objection to
this is that it leaves the τεθλασμένοι and ἀποκοπέντες without
any theological interpretation corresponding to the other
classes. Possibly this might be met by inserting <oi ἄθεοι
ἢΣ instead of merely «ἢ».

623

APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, II

8 4. For the elliptical oath cf. Plato, Gorgias 466 Ε,
Aristoph. Frogs 1374. Commentators have ascribed the first
example to piety, but this is incompatible with Plato’s use of
the names of deities elsewhere and even in the same dialogue,
and no such motive can be ascribed to Aristophanes. See
Thompson’s note on Gorgias, loc. οἵ.

§ 46. Lightened by anticipation. On the value of πρόληψις
(praemeditatio) as alleviating λύπη (aegritudo) see the dis-
cussion in Cic. Tusc. Disp. iii. 24-34 and 52 f., where the
opinion is represented as Cyrenaic in opposition to the
Epicurean that it was futile to dwell on evils beforehand.
But it was also to some extent a Stoic view, see ibid. and
S.V.F. iii. 482, where Poseidonius (or Chrysippus ἢ) is quoted
as saying’ προενδημεῖν δεῖν τοῖς πράγμασι μήπω τε παροῦσιν οἷον
παροῦσι χρῆσθαι.

8 56. Some give it the name of the“ season.”” For the Pyth-
agorean application of καιρός to Seven see Aristotle, Met.
i. 5,985 Ὁ. They say ὅτι τὸ μὲν τοιονδὶ τῶν ἀρίθμων πάθος,
τὸ δὲ τοιονδὶ ψυχὴ καὶ νοῦς, ἕτερον δὲ καιρός (quoted in Ritter
and Preller, 65 d), and more explicitly Alexander Aphr. in
Met. pp. 28, 29 καιρὸν δὲ πάλιν ἔλεγον τὸν ἑπτά. δοκεῖ yap τὰ
φυσικα τοὺς τελείους καιροὺς ἴσχειν καὶ γενέσεως καὶ τελει-
ὥσεως κατὰ ἑβδομάδας (quoted 7bid. 78 c).

For Philo’s more or less mystical use of the word, apart
from the number seven, see his comments on Num. xiv. 9
ἀφέστηκεν ὁ καιρὸς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐν ἡμῖν in De Post.
1921 f., and De Mut. 265. In the first of these καιρός is the
passing moment or opportunity which men impiously take
for their God, in the second it is the God-sent opportunity
which they fail to take.

§ 69. No man being naturally a slave. This is said to be a
Stoic doctrine. But among the passages collected by Arnim,
S.V.F. iii. 349-366, there is no other which lays down the

624

APPENDICES

principle so explicitly as this. The Stoic mind concentrates
itself on the thought that only the wise are truly free and only
the foolish or wicked truly slaves, and does not concern itself
with the actual institution of slavery. That the rights of
humanity do not extend to the unreasoning animals appears
in Cic. De Fin. iii. 67 (quoting Chrysippus) ‘cetera nata
esse hominum causa et deorum .. . ut bestiis homines uti
ad utilitatem suam possint sine iniuria.”’

§ 73. Since it is a general truth ... sole good. I do not
see any exact parallels in S. V.F’. 327-332 (which Heinemann
cites) to the doctrine implied here that ideally there is no
such thing as a foreigner (ἀλλότριος), but it accords with De
Ios, 29 that the Megalopolis, the world, has a single πολιτεία
and a single law in the λόγος φύσεως.

For the Stoic canon (Στωικὸν δόγμα De Post. 133) that
μόνον τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθόν see note on Quod Det. 9 (App.)
where, however, the statement that ‘‘ no Greek passage seems
to reproduce the dogma exactly in this form’’ must have
been written under a misapprehension. There are several
passages in S.V.F’. (see Index) which exhibit it or its Latin
equivalent “‘solum bonum esse quod honestum sit.” Note
particularly Diog. Laert. vii. 101 λέγουσι δὲ μόνον τὸ καλὸν
ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, καθά φησιν ‘Exdtwv καὶ Χρύσιππος.

§ 82. Tribe (or deme?) and ward. “The full citizens in
Alexandria were those enrolled in tribes and demes. The
important and constant element was the deme rather than
the tribe and during the Ptolemaic and earlier Roman period
it was customary, since the deme-names of Alexandria and
Ptolemais differed, to describe a citizen of either city by his
deme only. The tribe-names were more fluid, thus we know
that Claudius sanctioned a proposal to name a tribe in his
honour,”’ Bell, Camb. Mod. Hist. x. p. 295. The evidence
for this statement (from Papyri?) is not given, nor is it
stated whether it applies equally to the πολίτευμα of the Jews.
If nothing is known to the contrary, Philo’s words suggest
that it does.

It should be noted, however, that Philo found δῆμος
as well as φυλή in Num. xxxvi. (see v. 6). Apparently,
however, they are there convertible terms. E.V. has “‘ the
family of the tribe.”

§ 91. (Depreciation of athletes and athletictraining.) This
is not uncommon, especially in contrast with military train-
ing. Cf. Quintilian, x. 1. 33, where the athlete’s “tori”

VOL. VII | 28 625

PHILO

or fleshy protuberances are contrasted with the military
“‘lacerti.” Several parallels are quoted by Peterson in his
note on that passage, bringing out the idea that the athlete’s
training did not fit him to endure the various hardships of
the soldier’s life. Philo may have the same idea here, though
he does not bring in the contrast with the soldier.

For πιαινομένων cf. Leg. All. i. 98, where the athlete’s diet
iS ἕνεκα τοῦ πιαίνεσθαι καὶ ῥώννυσθαι, and for πολυσαρκία see
Lucian, Dial. Mort. x. 5 (quoted by Peterson), where an
athlete πολύσαρκός τις ὧν nearly makes Charon’s boat sink.

§ 125. ἡ προεστῶσα ἀρχὴ κτλ. In making this statement,
and indeed in the whole section, Philo has no biblical
authority and is simply giving what he considers to be just,
based apparently on Attic (or Alexandrian ?) law. In Attic
law the archon (who seems to be alluded to in ἡ προεστῶσα
ἀρχή) had the general duty of caring for orphans and heiresses.
See Lansing Att, Recht. p. 58, though this seems to mean only
the obligation to see that the legitimate ἐπίτροποι performed
their duty (2bid. p. 525). Philo’s words here would naturally
imply something more definite than this and are not easy to
reconcile with iii. 67, where proposals of marriage to orphan
maidens are to be addressed “to the brothers or guardians
or others who have charge of her.”

§ 188 and sequel to § 139. (The double portion of the first-
born.) Goodenough, pp. 56 f., after giving evidence of
the right of the eldest son to a double portion in Ptolemaic
Egypt as well as in Greece, holds that Philo has no scrip-
tural warrant for attesting this as a general Mosaic law,
but quotes Deut. xxi. as the nearest thing he can find in
scripture to a law which had forced itself on Jewish practice.
It seems to me that Philo could reasonably find an acknow-
ledgement of the claims of primogeniture in v. 17, “for he
is the beginning of his children (txx) and to him belong the
rights of the first-born (πρωτοτοκεῖα).᾽" That is to say, what
the law forbids in this passage is that the repudiation of the
mother, who in Philo’s view is not only hated but discarded
(ἀπηλλαγμένη § 139), should be allowed to cancel the acknow-
ledged rights of her son.

There is more to be said for Heinemann’s contention that
the arguments in §§ 132-139 imply that what was stated as
a general law in § 133 only obtained in the particular case
here discussed. The third reason in particular (§ 139) might
be taken to mean that the duplication of the portion of

626

APPENDICES

the first-born was a compensation for the wrongs he had
already suffered. But this is not necessarily so. Philo may
mean, as indeed he implies in the last sentence, that the law
wishes to protect the just rights of both families and shews its
intention by asserting the special right of the first-born.

§ 145. The Crossing-feast. I have not found in any
authority which I have seen any light thrown on Philo’s
departure from the ordinary explanation of Passover.
Josephus, Ant. ii. 313 explains πάσχα as meaning ὕπερ-
βασία (so also later Aquila; see Driver on Ex. xii. 13).
It must be remembered that the point is disguised in the
LXx, which translates the noun pésah in xii. 21 and 27 by
πάσχα, but the verb pdsah in vv. 13 and 27 by σκεπάω and
ἐσκέπασε, in v. 23 by παρελεύσεται. That Philo was not
alone in his opinion is shewn by his statement that others
allegorized in the same way, for such an allegory could
only be founded on the “crossing” interpretation. That
he believed διάβασις to be the correct translation appears
in De Mig. 25 τὸ πάσχα, τὸ δέ ἐστιν ἑρμηνευθὲν διάβασις.

Ibid. From noon till eventide. See Ex. xii. 6, Lev. xxiii. 5,
Num. ix. 3, where the R.V. has “‘ at even,” (margin) Hebrew
“between the two evenings.” The Lxx translates this in Ex.
and Num. by πρὸς ἑσπέραν, but in Leviticus by ἀνάμεσον τῶν
ἑσπερινῶν. ‘For this the traditional interpretation adopted
by the Pharisees and Talmudists was that the ‘first’
evening was when the heat of the sun begins to decrease,
about 3 p.m., and that the second evening began with sunset”
(Driver on Ex. xii. 6). Philo’s interpretation is in accordance
with another opinion quoted by Driver, “that the sacrifice
if offered before noon was not valid.”

§ 162. Directly after the first day. The Hebrew “on the
morrow after the Sabbath,” translated by the txx in Lev.
xxiii. 11 by ἐπαύριον τῆς πρώτης though in v. 15 by ἐπαύριον
τῶν σαββάτων, is said to have been diversely interpreted by
the Pharisees and Sadducees (see Thackeray on Jos. Ant.
iii. 250). The Pharisees, with whom Josephus as well as
Philo agrees, understood it to mean the second day of
Unleavened Bread. The Sadducees held it to be on the day
after the Sabbath, which necessarily occurred at some time
in the festal week.

§ 176. (Text of dao . . . μονάδος.) M has ἀλλὰ yap ἐκείνης
ἡμέρα πεντηκοστὴ καταριθμεῖται ἑβδόμη ἑβδομάς, ἐφ᾽ als ἱερὸν
ἀριθμὸν ἐπισφραγιζομένης μονάδος. Nicetas ἀπὸ γὰρ ἐκείνης

627

PHILO

τῆς ἡμέρας πεντηκοστὴ ἀριθμεῖται ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδες ἱερὸν ἀριθμὸν
ἐπισφραγιζομένης μονάδος. Nicetas’s text is followed by Mangey
with the correction of ἑβδομάδες to -dwv. Nicetas’s ἀπὸ is
clearly right (see Lev. xxiii. 15, for reckoning Pentecost from
the Sheaf)) and the question between his τῆς ἡμέρας... ἀριθ-
petra... and M’s ἡμέρα. .. καταριθμεῖται is unimportant,
but his ἑβδομάδες is impossible ; Cohn’s correction to ἑβδομάσι
agrees, as he says, with the parallel in De Dec. 160, whereas
Mangey’s ἑβδομάδων will make the sacred number 49 instead
of 50. Cohn’s correction of ἐφ᾽ αἷς to ἀφέσεως seems to me
much more doubtful. In De Cong. 109 which he cites, and
a similar passage in De Mut. 228, an allegory is founded on
the connexion of “‘release’’ with the Jubile of the fiftieth
year. Here we are talking of a different feast which, except
for the number 50, has no connexion with the Jubile, and
there is no further allusion to the idea of release. The
corruption of ἑβδόμη ἑβδομὰς ἐφ᾽ αἷς in M may have arisen
(1) by an assimilation of ἑβδομάδες to the singular verb
καταριθμεῖται, (2) by a variation of construction between a
relative clause and a genitive absolute.

§ 185. Joy is the rational elevation or rising of the soul.
This is the regular Stoic definition of χαρά, in contrast with
ἡδονή, See S.V.F. iii. 431, 432. Each of the “good
emotional states ” (εὐπάθειαι) is distinguished from the corre-
sponding πάθος by being εὔλογος. Thus εὐλάβεια (“‘ cautious-
ness’) is opposed to φόβος as being εὔλογος ἔκκλισις, Diog.
Laert. vii. 116.

§ 188. Rules of good economy. Lit. “laws of economic
virtue.’’ According to the Stoics οἰκονομική or the know-
ledge of what is profitable to the household is an ἀρετή
(S. V.F. iii. 267) and only the wise man is οἰκονομικός (26. 567).
So Philo, Quaestio in Gen. iv. 165 “ urbanitas (ἐ.6. πολιτική)
et oeconomia cognatae sunt virtutes.” Cf. De Hor. 91.

§ 212. In the scale of ascending powers. I have not found
the compound zapavénats (-avw) in Plato or Nicomachus
meaning “‘to raise to a higher power.”’ But the uncompounded
verb or noun is common in this sense. So in Rep. 528 B
the square is the δευτέρα αὔξη and the cube the τρίτη αὔξησις.
In 587 ἢ κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ τρίτην αὔξην seems to mean “ by
squaring and cubing.”” In Nicomachus xi. 15, 9 being thrice
3 by another 3 αὔξεται ἐπ᾽ ἀλλὸ διάστημα and becomes 27.

§ 228. (Text of καὶ od μόνον... . παίδων.) The simplest sugges-
tion 1 can make for this is to correct λογισμοὺς to λογισμοῖς

628

APPENDICES

καὶ. Translate ‘‘ impressing them on the minds of the children
both in the earlier and in the riper stage of youth.”’ This
will make good sense, giving three stages of parental instruc-
tion—early childhood, boyhood, and later adolescence. But
I lack authority for the antithesis implied between νεάζειν
and ἀκμάζειν, and also while λογισμός = “ reasoning faculty ”’
or “ mind ”’ is quite common in Philo, I have not found it in
the plural.

Another difficulty felt by Cohn, that of μὲν just above has
no following δὲ, which leads him to suggest that the end of
the sentence has been lost, does not seem to be weighty.
Philo begins no doubt with thinking of the parents as μέν
and the children as δέ, but that he should forget to express
the latter formally does not seem unlike him.

§ 232. (The disobedient son.) In Deut. xxi. the incor-
rigible son is brought before the “‘ elders,”’ after which (ixx)
he is denounced to the ‘‘ men of the city,’’ who thereupon
stone him. Nothing is said of any right of either the
‘elders’ or the ‘‘ men of the city’’ to examine the accusa-
tion, but the account savours more of a judicial proceedin
than Philo’s words suggest. And Heinemann (ad loc. an
Bildung, pp. 251) and Goodenough, p. 69 ff., may be right
in tracing here the influence of the Roman patria potestas,
as also in the doctrine of parental δεσποτεία in the next
sentence.

§ 239. Secondly, it would not be suitable... by kinship.
Heinemann aptly quotes Seneca, De Beneficiis, iv. 17
‘‘quomodo nulla lex amare parentes . . . iubet (super-

vacuum est enim, in quod imus, impelli).”

§ 244, (Penalty for striking a parent.) Heinemann quotes
Seneca, Controv. ix. 4 ‘“‘qui patrem pulsaverit manus ei
praecidantur,” which he calls a Roman law and also
declares it to come from the Twelve Tables. Goodenough,
accepting the first part of this, bases on it an argument that
the εὐπάρυφοι of § 244 are definitely Roman officials. Such
a law is certainly not found among any of the fragments
of the Twelve Tables known to us, but there is no reason
to think that it is a Roman law at all. Seneca’s words
are no evidence. The laws which form the basis of the
several controversiae need not have and do not claim to
have any foundation in fact. In this particular case the
theme is as follows: The law is supposed to be as stated
above. A ‘‘ tyrant’? has commanded two sons to strike their

629

PHILO

father. One commits suicide rather than do so; the other
obeys the command. When the tyrant has fallen or in one
version has been killed by the same son, the son is charged
under this law and arguments are adduced by the debaters
for and against exacting the penalty. The same law with
practically the same theme is noted by a scholiast as used
by the Greek rhetor Syrianus (Walz, Rhet. Graeci, iv. 467),
and, with different themes attached, in the Declamations
ascribed to Quintilian 358, 362, 372. Another of Seneca’s
Controv. (viii. 2) starts with a law that amputation of the
hands is the penalty for sacrilege. Whether these imaginary
laws prescribing the mutilation of the offending member
(cf. Deut. xxv. 11, 12, and iii. 175, below) are based on some
old tradition, or are the product of the inventiveness of the
rhetoricians, it is impossible to say. The only code known to
us which assigns this punishment for striking a father is the
Babylonian code of Hammurabi (about 2000 s.c.), and this
is hardly likely to have influenced either the rhetor or Philo.
The common assumption in the schools that such legislation
existed or had existed somewhere would be enough to make
him embark without further inquiry on a demonstration of
its injustice.

§ 259. Each of the other virtues is its own reward. The senti-
ment is of course implicit in the common Stoic aphorism that
virtue is αὐτὴ δι᾽ αὑτὴν aiperds and αὐταρκὴς πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν.
The most exact parallel quoted is S. V.F’. iii. 45, from Servius,
*Stoici dicunt virtutem esse pro praemio si nulla sint
praemia.”

630

APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, Τὴ

§ 3. The ocean of civil cares. I do not know that we
know enough about the dates of Philo’s writings to say that
Heinemann’s positive statement that this refers to the serious
troubles of a.p. 38-41 described in the In Flaccum and
Legatio ad Gaium is impossible. But it is at any rate
uncertain. Apart from such matters as the apparently
unsuccessful attempt to interfere with Jewish religion
mentioned in De Som. ii. 123 (where see note in App.), and
the oppression of the tax-collectors noted below (88 159 ff.),
there must have been considerable friction in Alexandria
caused by the special position of the Jewish πολιτεία long
before the outbreak. It is this to which I understand the
φθόνος to refer, rather than, as Goodenough, to the con-
ventional idea of the jealousy of fate shewn to prosperity,
an idea which does not seem to fit in well with the epithets
μισόκαλος and κακῶν ἀργαλεώτατον.

86. Yet... even for this. The meaning οὗ 88 1-6, when
reduced to plain prose, is that the days when Philo could
devote his whole powers to philosophy are far back in the
past. He is now permanently engaged and sometimes
absorbed in political business of a troublesome nature,
but there are times when he can get some leisure for his
favourite studies and use his philosophical insight (§ 4).
There are indeed other times (§ 5) when he can shake off
the shackles altogether and perhaps feel the inspiration
which he described in De Mig. § 35. But this is not one of
these times. His condition is that he can open his eyes as
in § 4, though he cannot triumphantly ride the waves as in
§ 5; yet even for this he is thankful.

If it is asked why this eloquent outcry is introduced at
this point, I think it is enough to say that it is a natural
literary device marking that he is just halfway through his

631

PHILO

great subject. Such prologues at pauses in a long disquisi-
tion are not, I think, uncommon. They appear, for instance,
in Quintilian. It is possible, though I think less probable,
that it means to indicate that the work has actually been
interrupted by civic troubles and that καιροῦ διδόντος at the
end of the preceding treatise should be translated ‘‘ when
opportunity offers,” with the suggestion that the opportunity
will have to be waited for.

Goodenough’s idea (p. 9), that the outcry is elicited by a
feeling that the criminal and civil laws now to be treated
forcibly remind him of his civic distractions, seems to me
fanciful.

§ 13. (Persian incest.) See Clement Alex. Strom. iii. 2. 11,
who cites the early historian Xanthus as saying μίγνυνται ot
Μάγοι μητράσι καὶ θυγατράσι, and couples them with sisters.
In Paedagogus, i. 7 he says the same of the Persians in
general. Tertullian also in Ad Nationes, i. 15 and Apol. 9
repeats the statement on the authority of Ctesias, another
early historian. Philo evidently assumes that these early
authorities hold good for his own time, though he says
nothing of the Magi, for whom elsewhere he expresses
admiration (see on § 100 below). Compare on the other hand
Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. iii. 305 Πέρσαι δὲ καὶ μάλιστα αὐτῶν
οἱ σοφίαν ἀσκεῖν δοκοῦντες, of Μάγοι, γαμοῦσι τὰς μητέρας καὶ
Αἰγύπτιοι τὰς ἀδελφὰς ἄγονται πρὸς γάμον. The charge against
the Persians is often repeated in later writers (references in
Mangey ad loc. and Commentator on Clement (Migne)).

§§ 17-18. (Persian civil troubles.) No suggestions are
given by Heinemann as to what events, if any, Philo has in
mind. Possibly he may have known of the troubles both
before and after the succession of Darius Hystaspes and
after the death of Xerxes, and a number of fratricides are
recorded, beginning with the murder of Smerdis by Cam-
byses, and before or after the accessions of Darius Nothus
and Ochus and Codomannus. See Rawlinson, Fifth Great
Monarchy. But his words fit better into more contemporary
matters and he is more likely to be thinking of the later
Parthian empire which absorbed the Persian. He was quite
aware that the Parthians had conquered the Persians (De
Ios. 136, Quod Deus 174), but he might, like Horace,
identify the two in a vague statement of this kind. Plutarch,
Lucullus 36 speaks of the Parthian power as weakened ὑπ᾽
ἐμφυλίων καὶ προσοίκων πολέμων at the time of Lucullus’s

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APPENDICES

campaign (about 78 B.c.), and the civil war between Mithra-
dates III and Orodes after their murder of their father
Phraates, a war which ended with the victory of Orodes
ΝΗ the execution of his brother, would be well known to
ilo.

᾿ς §22, Marriage with half-sisters on the father’s side.
So Cimon married his germana ne eee) soror,
““nam Atheniensibus licet eodem patre natas uxores ducere,”’
Corn. Nep. Cim. i. ἢ. Themistocles’ daughter married her
brother οὐκ ὄντα ὁμομήτριον, Plut. Them. 32. The scholiast on
Aristophanes, Vuwbes 1372, where the poet denounces marriage
with an ὁμομήτριος ἀδελφή, Says that since marriage between
ὁμοπάτριοι was lawful at Athens, the word is added εἰς
αὔξησιν τοῦ ἀδικήματος. Philo is right in saying that there
was such a law at Athens, whether dating from Solon or
not. He does not say that it was a common practice, and
when Plato, Laws 838 a, B puts brother and sister without
adding: ὁμομήτριος among the relations between which inter-
course was not only unlawful but felt so strongly to be
unlawful that most people had no desire for it, it is difficult
to suppose that it was common.

No evidence appears to be forthcoming for Philo’s state-
ment about the Spartan law.

§ 23. (Egyptian marriage with sisters on both sides.) See
Diod. Sic. i. 27, where the practice is said to be modelled on
the marriage of Isis and Osiris, also the words of Sext. Emp.
quoted in note on § 13. Goodenough cites for a later age
from the Papyri a card of invitation issued by a mother for
the marriage of one of her sons to a daughter.

§ 30. (Remarriage with a divorced wife). On this point
Goodenough, pp. 85, 86 calls attention to the Lex Iulia de
adulteriis, 18 s.c., which provides that among the things
which that law punishes as adultery is “si adulterii dam-
natam sciens uxorem duxerit,”’ Dig. iv. 37. 1. Assuming,
then, that the remarriage shewed that the intermediate union
was adultery, the offender would. be liable under Roman
-law in Philo’s time.. Elsewhere (see references in Dict. of
Ant.) condonation of adultery is treated under the same
law.as lenocinium. Is this the Latin equivalent for what
Philo calls zpoaywyeia? In Greek law this last was a capital.
crime, as Goodenough notes (though only perhaps if proved
to be ἐπὶ μισθῷ. See Lipsius, A.R. p. 435).

§§ 34-36. Heinemann, Bildung, pp. 262-267, has a long

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PHILO

and careful discussion of the views expressed here by Philo,
and less specifically in other places (Quod Det. 102, De Jos.
43, Mos. i. 28), as compared with Rabbinical and Greek
opinion. The upshot of it is that Philo goes far beyond the
latter at any rate. The only passage cited which at all
approaches this is from Charondas (Stobaeus, Flor. ii. p.
184 Meineke). According to Zeller (Stoics and Epicureans,
Eng. Trans. p. 303), the Stoics merely required chastity and
moderation in marriage (including total abstinence from
pregnant women).

§§ 37-38. Philo may also be bearing in mind Deut. xxiii.
17, where ὁ πορνεύων (E..V. “‘ sodomite ’’) is coupled with πόρνη
as forbidden in Israel. πορνεύων and πόρνος seem regularly
to mean a male prostitute rather than as in Heb. xii. 16
simply a fornicator. Though no punishment is prescribed
in Deut., the fact that Philo seems to base the stoning of the
πόρνη on this verse (see on § 81) shews that he would feel the
same about the πόρνος.

§ 40. Celebrating the rites of Demeter, etc. I have not
been able to find any evidence in support of this account
of the prominence of male prostitutes in the mysteries of
Demeter or similar rites; nor yet of the next sections describ-
ing the honours paid to the castrated. No doubt the Galli,
the priests of Attis, were well known and also the votaries
who castrated themselves in honour of Attis. See Frazer
(Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, pp. 22 ff.), who also mentions
the eunuch priests of Artemis of Ephesus, and the Syrian
Astarté. But Philo can hardly be referring to these.

§ 51. (Death penalty for harlots.) This severity is in
accordance with De /os. 43, where Joseph is represented as
saying “‘ with us death is the penalty for harlots,”’ but in-
consistent with i. 81, where the repentant harlot may retain
her civic rights and marry anyone except a priest, and pre-
sumably not merely escape death, but remain unpunished.

§ 72. Documents containing the names, etc. Heinemann,
Bildung, p. 289, gives an excellent parallel from the Papyri.
‘“The announcement of marriage’’ contains the names of
the parties and of the parents of the wife, the amount of her
dowry, the guarantee of the husband to make fitting - pro-
vision, the promise of fidelity on both sides, and the penalties
in the event of infringement.

Goodenough’s theory (p. 92) that this ὁμολογία is regarded
by Philo as justifying marital relations before the completed

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APPENDICES

marriage, and that therefore ὑπογάμιον (or ὑπογάμιον ἀδίκημα)
was de facto adultery seems to me to be negatived by the
phrase in § 74 (which Goodenough passes over very lightly),
that the girl has her virginity to defend. Clearly some
people did not regard it as adultery, and, when Philo main-
tains the contrary, he seems to me to be upholding what he
takes to be the view of Deuteronomy, which assigns the same
punishment as for adultery, and speaks of the violator as
having dishonoured (ἐταπείνωσε) his neighbour’s wife. For
the equivalence of betrothal to marriage see also i. 107, where
it is implied that the betrothed is no longer a παρθένος, “ even
though her body is pure.”

8 84. τὸ τῆς τιμωρίας ἀθάνατον. Cohn (Hermes, 1908,
p. 206) offers a solution of this corruption which perhaps is
preferable to that suggested in the translation. He suggests
that εἶδος or an equivalent word has fallen out, and that
ἀθάνατον is the result of a gloss explanatory of εἶδος. The
glossator wrote a’ (-- ἕνα) θάνατον, and this having been re-
embodied in the text in the form of ἀθάνατον ultimately
ousted εἶδος.

In the first part of the sentence the suggestion of inserting
ἀμειλίκτως is due to H. Grégoire in Hermes, 1909, p. 320,
though he would place it between ἐργασάμενον and ἀναιρετέον.

§ 86. (Intention to kill.) Heinemann points out that in
giving this interpretation to Ex. xxi. 14 ἐπιθῆται. . . δόλῳ,
and extending it to cover BovAevars in general, Philo is follow-
ing Greek law, τὸν βουλεύσαντα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐνέχεσθαι καὶ τὸν
χειρὶ ἐργασάμενον, Andocides i. 94.

§ 89. (Punishment of poisoners.) Heinemann and Good-
enough point out that Philo’s views on this subject are in
accordance with the spirit of the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et
veneficis (about 81 8.6.) which decreed punishment for
preparing, having or selling poisons for the destruction of
human life, as well as for actually using them. Josephus,
Ant. iv. 279 is closer to the Roman law, as he expressly
includes the possession of such poisons as criminal. Both
authors apparently go beyond the Lex Cornelia in saying
that poison intended to cause other injuries than death.
(Jos. εἰς ἄλλας βλάβας πεποιημένον is on the same footing.)

§ 100. (The Magiand the true magic.) Mangey and others
quote for the last part of the sentence Cic. De Div. i. 91
‘*Nec quisquam rex Persarum potest esse qui non ante
Magorum disciplinam scientiamque perceperit.”’

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PHILO

As to what Philo understands by “true magic’”’ I hazard
the conjecture that he has in mind the distinction between
* artificiosa divinatio”’ and ‘‘ naturalis,’”’ a distinction which
is made by the Stoic in the De Div., and accepted by his
opponent. The coincidence quoted above inclines one to
think that both this passage and the substance of De Div. i.
are based on some Stoic treatise (? Poseidonius). In the
De Div. the “ artificiosa’’ comprises haruspicy, augury, and
the like, while the “ naturalis ”’ is limited to inspiration, such
as oracles, and dreams. It seems to be equated in i. 90
with “‘ratio naturae quam φυσιολογίαν Graeci appellant.”
This agrees with our passage and with Quod Omn. Prob. 74,
where the Magi are extolled as “‘ researching in tranquillity
into the works (or facts) of nature and by clearer visions
receiving and giving revelations (ἱεροφαντοῦνταί τε Kal tepo-
φαντοῦσι) of divine excellences.”’ Further at the end of De
Div. i. the Stoic, though he has defended the “ artificiosa ”’
in general, rejects the charlatan impostors in much the same
tone as Philo takes in § 101. Compare also Mos. i. 277 where
ἔντεχνος μαντική was inadequately translated by ‘‘his art of
wizardry.”’ Rather it means the “ artificiosa ’’ discarded for
the “naturalis’’ of the prophetic spirit. It is an objection
to this, but not I think a fatal objection, that either Philo
or Cicero must have misunderstood the reference to the
Magi. For in Cicero the Magi ‘‘augurantur et divinant,”’
i.e. practise the “ artificiosa.”’

Heinemann thinks that Philo is just adopting the accepted
Stoic definition of μαντική as ἐπιστήμη οὖσα θεωρητικὴ Kat
ἐξηγητικὴ τῶν ὑπὸ θεῶν ἀνθρώποις διδομένων σημείων (S. VF’. ii.
1018, iii. 654), while giving the last words a *‘ monotheistic ”’
twist. He means, I suppose, that dvois=(as often) θεός is
substituted for θεῶν. In view of Philo’s wholesale denuncia-
tion of μαντική in i. 59 ff. it seems to me improbable that he
veut’ accept this definition without more explanation than
this.

It is possible, no doubt, that he is simply echoing the vague
popular idea that there is a respectable as well as a disre-
putable magic, which we find also in the N.T. with the
“wise men”? from the east on the one hand and Simon and
Elymas on the other, all described as μάγοι.

§ 102. θανατῶντας. The same sense for θανατᾶν, 1.6. “to be
about to die,”’ is demanded certainly or preferably in De Virt.
34, De Hx. 159, and De Aet. 89. The word cannot be an

636

APPENDICES

interpolation in all these places; nor does Cohn raise any
objection there. It is true that the accepted meaning of
θανατᾶν is “to desire death,” as in Phaedo 64 8. If here and
elsewhere it carries the sense of imminence rather than desire,
it is presumably on the analogy of verbs of sickness such as
ὑδεριάω =‘ be dropsical’’ or ὀφθαλμιάω Ξε have sore eyes.”
In this way it may easily =‘ sick unto death,” and: thence
pass on to being doomed to death from other causes than
sickness, It is a pertinent objection that these verbs are in
-ιάω rather than -aw, though indeed to add the vowel in each
case in Philo would be less drastic than expunging the word.
At any rate the positive fact for the lexicographer is that in
these four places the mss. of Philo exhibit θανατᾶν as = “‘ being
near to death.’ Possibly to these should be added i. 237,
where θανατῶσαν νόσον is corrected by Cohn to θανατοῦσαν νόσον.
That the disease itself is near to death (cf. “‘ this sickness is
not unto death’’) would be a fairly natural extension.

§ 108. Both for the outrage, and for obstructing nature,
etc. Goodenough, pp. 113f. points out that Josephus, Ant. iv.
278 mentions a double fine, (1) for diminishing the population ;
(2) compensation to the husband, and that Philo’s two
reasons, “‘nature’’ and ὕβρις, roughly correspond to these.
He infers that Philo also contemplates a double fine. He
may very likely have found the Ltxx ἐπιζήμιον ζημιω-
θήσεται καθότι ἂν ἐπιβάλῃ 6 ἀνὴρ τῆς γυναικὸς δώσει μετὰ
ἀξιώματος obscure.

§ 109. A human being... from confinement. Heinemann and
Goodenough note a discrepancy between this and § 117, where
Philo accepts the Stoic theory (S. V.F. ii. 806) that the child
is not a separate living creature till it has left its mother’s
womb. I do not think there is any real discrepancy. Here
he is stating what he considers to be implied by the Lxx, 1.6.
that the child at this stage is (potentially) a human being.
There he argues that while the Stoic theory may be true and
is supported by high authorities, the stricter law of the rxx
seems to emphasize the sacredness of the infant and shews a
fortiori how heinous is the destruction of the fully born.
Cf. for a very similar argument De Virt. 137, 138.

§ 120. (Involuntary homicide.) What does Philo under-
stand by this? In the Pentateuch it seems to mean accidental
homicide, see particularly the example given in Deut. xix. 5
of the man killed by the slip of the head from his neighbour’s
axe. Nothing is said in these sections exactly in contradic-

637

PHILO

tion of this, though the μὴ ἐκ προνοίας in ὃ 128 may point
to a wider interpretation. But in §§ 92 and 104 we have
had suggestions that he regards homicide, if committed in
sudden anger or in an unpremeditated quarrel, as different
from ordinary murder, though he does not follow this up
(see notes on §§ 92 and 104). His view in fact seems much
the same as that of Plato, who (Laws 866 p ff.) discusses the
point and says that one who kills another in hot blood or
unpremeditatedly is οὐ παντάπασιν ἀκούσιος ἀλλ᾽ εἰκὼν ἀκουσίου.
Philo’s ἡμίεργον in § 92 is a rough equivalent of Plato’s εἰκών
(“likeness or shadow,’’ Jowett) and indeed may be a remi-
niscence of it. That is to say, it is something between
ἀκούσιος and ἑκούσιος. One may conjecture that he does not
consider it worthy of death, but in face of the law of Ex. xxi.
18, 19, described in § 100, refrains from saying so.

§§ 131-136. The death of the high priest. Why the death
of one high priest should abrogate the reasons assigned for
the limit of the exile, when he is immediately succeeded by
another, is not here discussed. The real explanation, as I
understand from the commentators, is that the rights of the
avenger of blood had to be limited, and that the succession
of a new high priest, like the accession of a new sovereign,
made a convenient limit. Philo himself in De Fuga 106 f.
has pronounced the enactment, if literally taken, to be absurd,
and therefore explains the death of the high priest as the
death of the Logos in the soul.

§ 148. (Punishment in the case where a man is killed by
falling into an unguarded pit.) Philo’s statement in the face
of the absence of any specific provision in the Law is regarded
by Goodenough, p. 129 as clear evidence that he is here
giving us the practice of the Jewish courts in Egypt. I think
it is merely one of his reasonable inferences from analogous
cases, By making the negligence punishable when an
animal is killed, the law suggests that it is still more punish-
able in the case of a human being. What he says really
amounts to saying that no one need think himself debarred
from making a complaint to the court, which will then have
to follow the principle laid down in the matter of the un-
guarded well, i.e. either death or a fine. He naturally
hesitates to prescribe death in so many words, but evidently
thinks it would be justified, as also in the case of the φόνος
of the unguarded roof mentioned in § 149.

§ 149, (The unguarded roof.) It isnoteworthy that Josephus,

638

APPENDICES

Ant. iv. 284 also couples this with the unguarded pit, though
they came from quite different parts of the Pentateuch, and
this has sometimes (see Thackeray ad loc.) been regarded as
one of the points which shew Josephus’s dependence upon
Philo. See vol. vi., Introd. p. xxii, note e. I think the
analogy of the two is obvious enough to have struck both
writers independently.

8 164. (Traitors and tyrants, etc.) Heinemann in his note
Says positively that the latter law, 7.e. against tyrants (in
Bildung, p. 212, both laws, regarded as a single law), is an
old Macedonian law. Goodenough accepts this and infers
that it was probably continued in Ptolemaic Egypt and
therefore known to Philo. All this has very slender founda-
tion. _Heinemann’s authority is two passages (cited quite
reasonably by Cohn as illustrations), one from Curtius
Rufus vi. 42. 20, the other from Cicero, De Inventione, ii. 144.
The first of these mentions in connexion with a plot against
Alexander a “‘law of the Macedonians providing that the
relations of a conspirator against the king should be put to
death.” Here it is relations (propinqui), not children, and
an “‘insidiator”’ is not the same as a προδότης. Still there
may be some connexion.

The second passage deals with a problem in the rhetorical
schools. There are supposed to be two laws: one that the
tyrannicide may claim any reward; another that the “‘ five
nearest relations of the tyrant shall be put to death.” The
example given is that of Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, who
was murdered in 367 s.c., by his wife. By the first law she
can claim the life of her son by him as the reward; by the
second he must be put to death, and the arguments for either
course are elaborately discussed by Cicero. As apparently
Alexander’s wife was acting in concert with her brother,
who afterwards assumed the tyranny (Diod. xvi. 14), the
question can hardly have arisen, and if it did, Pherae was
presumably not under Macedonian jurisdiction. But it is
quite unsafe to assume that such a law was in existence.
The death of Alexander was a famous case of tyrannicide
and a useful peg on which to hang one of the controversies,
in which tyrannicide was a favourite subject, and to which
historicity was a matter of complete indifference. Heinemann
and Goodenough have fallen into the same error as on ii. 244,
in mistaking these fictions of the schools for sober history;
though it must not be assumed that because they are worth-

639

PHILO

less as evidence, Philo had not some other ground, historical
or traditional, for his statements.

§ 171. The temple. Possibly τὸ ἱερόν may have become
in the διασπορά a conventional name for the synagogue as
the best possible substitute for the temple, particularly in
Alexandria where the synagogue is said to have been
especjally magnificent and famous (Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v.
synagogue); and so too with the common collocation εὐχὰς
καὶ θυσίας for the due performance of all religious rites
possible.

On the strict seclusion of women indicated in this section
Heinemann (Bildung, p. 234) quotes In Flaccum 89 (of the
Jewish women in Alexandria) γύναια κατάκλειστα μηδὲ τὴν
αὔλειον προερχόμενα καὶ θαλαμευόμεναι παρθένοι, though he
points out that it reflects Greek rather than Jewish ideas.

Goodenough cites a passage from the female Pythagorean
Phintys, quoted in Stobaeus (Meineke, iii. 64), which in some
ways curiously resembles this, but shews less strictness.
Phintys’s lady may go out duly attended not only to public
worship but to see spectacles (θεωρίαι) and to shop.

§ 176. (Exclusion of women from gymnastic competitions.)
The only evidence for this known to me is their exclusion
from the Olympic games mentioned in Aelian, V.H. x. 1,
and Pausanias, v. 6.'7. Elsewhere Pausanias, vi. 20. 9 (if the
text is right) states that virgins were not excluded.

§ 181. (Penalties not corresponding to the crimes.) Good-
enough, p. 137 says that the list of punishments here given
follows those provided in Greek law for the several crimes.
This seems to be only partially correct. The punishment
for αἰκία was a monetary fine, and murderers were apparently
allowed to evade the death-penalty by flying the country.
But the punishment for τραύματα ἐκ προνοίας, 7.e. wounding
intended to kill, which perhaps may be equated with Philo’s
τραύματα Kal πηρώσεις, was banishment, not ἀτιμία, which is
a loss of civil rights not entailing banishment. It seems to
be true that theft might sometimes be punished by a few
days’ imprisonment as a supplement to a manifold restitution
of the things stolen, but what Philo here means is imprison-
ment instead of such restitution. I do not see any reason
to think that he refers to any particular body of legislation.

The references given by Goodenough to Lipsius are to
pp. 646, 605-607, 440, to which add for wilful murder,
603-604.

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APPENDICES

§ 183. ἀποφράδες ἡμέραι. The idea suggested in the trans-
lation is that, as all religious rites are forbidden on these
days, the action cannot desecrate them. Compare Lucian,
Pseudologistes 12, where the performance of sacred rites is
included among the things prohibited on the Apophrades.
Something of the same sort appears in Laws 800 ἢ, where
Plato forbids the melancholy strains used at sacrifices as
blasphemy and relegates them to the Apophrades.

It seems possible, however, that the contrast intended
may be the opposite of this, namely that things which are
lawful on the feast-days are intolerable at other times. Philo
may be thinking of pagan usage around him and allude to
the license allowed on public feast-days (cf. De Cher. 91 ff.).
This will give ἀποφράδες ἡμέραι something more like its
ordinary meaning. Days which are inauspicious for ordin-
ary business will be still more inauspicious for unlawful
actions.

§ 184. The most conspicuous and distinguished situation.
Heinemann quotes Cic. De Natura Deorum, ii. 140 “ oculi
tanquam speculatores altissimum locum obtinent,”’ but the
thought there is somewhat different, rather of convenience
than dignity, as it continues “ ex quo plurima conspicientes
fungantur suo munere.”’

§ 204. (The law of the millstone). Heinemann, who
(Bildung, p. 430) gives ἵεται ἐπ᾽ dvdpodoviay the somewhat.
stronger sense of “aims at murder,” considers Philo’s com-
ments to be a rhetorical exaggeration, and that no such
murderous intention on the part of the creditors is suggested
by a law which merely prohibits the attachment for debt of an
indispensable article. (Such laws are paralleled in other
legislations, indeed in the Common Law of England, see
Adam Smith ad loc. Goodenough (p. 142) aptly cites out
of the Papyri an example from the Ptolemaic law of Egypt,
where a farmer’s cattle and tools and a weaver’s loom are
mentioned.) But Philo gives a natural interpretation of the
strong phrase ψυχὴν ἐνεχυράζει. It must be remembered
that he only notes this law incidentally to strengthen his
point of the criminality of destroying a man’s teeth.

VOL. VII 9 τ' 641